Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)

There is no doubt that the figures are worrying and I will not labour that point because the Minister is aware of the issues. Despite the fact that the figures are worrying, the Minister has been working to ensure that when crime is committed, the criminal law is adequate to deal with it. An examination of the record of this Government and the previous Administration will show that there are an extra 1,100 gardaí on the beat and that an additional 1,223 prison places have been provided. The Minister referred to the increase in the Garda budget of 60%, to just under €1 billion, during the period in question. That figure highlights the commitment on the part of the Minister, but a trend is emerging and society is changing. Senator Ormonde touched on that in terms of people not respecting our laws, despite the additional measures that have been put in place. The Government has enacted an unprecedented amount of criminal law legislation recently. That has been helpful, but, unfortunately, the crime figures continue to go in the wrong direction. Much of what the Minister outlined earlier will help to deal with that problem.

We had a good debate on crime in the House on 24 October, during which the Minister outlined his thinking on the problem he was dealing with. The issues are the same now as they were then but the Minister is tackling them, which is welcome. Crime will always be high on the public agenda, but it must be recognised that it is also to the forefront of the political agenda. That has always been the case.

The Minister referred to the number of headline crimes and the vicious nature of personal attacks. Statistics alone are not striking but they are brought into sharp focus when we hear of events like those referred to by Senator Ormonde, of which there have been many recently. However, we should not lose sight of the fact that people have been convicted of these crimes and that is a vindication of our criminal justice system and the hard work of investigating gardaí. The number of crimes committed may be worrying, but the numbers solved should be welcomed. However, that is an area we must examine and it is one to which the Minister referred earlier.

Crime is broad based, as the Minister said, and there are many reasons for the difficulties brought about by crime in our society. We could analyse that subject for a week and not understand the full extent of the problems associated with it, but violent crime and the public order elements are of the greatest concern to most Members.