James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I, too, welcome the Minister. Both he and his ancestors were trained in the great law and order party of this country. I have no doubt that he has the ability to do the job if he gets the necessary resources from the Minister for Finance to do so. Gilbert and Sullivan in their well known operetta, "The Mikado", struck the right note when they wrote the familiar line, "Let the punishment fit the crime".

The rising crime figures given by the Minister are an indictment of a failure on the part of the Government. This is a message we should all take to heart. The record of the Minister and his predecessor is appalling. If one allies the notion of proper punishment with another concept, that crime is contagious, it is imperative that crime prevention is first and foremost a matter of adequate deterrent. Sentencing must reflect the gravity of crime and deter the knock-on effect that arises from undue leniency.

Currently criminals who rob at knifepoint, terrorise the old and infirm or kill while driving stolen vehicles do not fear being punished because the lack of prison places means they will be back on the streets within days, if not hours. The offender has nothing to fear and he or she knows it. While constituting an insult to the victims of crime, this is also detrimental to offenders, who receive no rehabilitation that could help them become responsible and productive citizens.

The law needs to be applied more swiftly and fairly but the court system is clogged up, as any solicitor or town clerk can testify. It can take months for a case to come to court and then, as has been demonstrated in a recent high profile case concerning paedophile activity, there seems to be one law for the rich and one for the poor.

With ongoing increases in almost every criminal category, it is imperative that the Government increase Garda manpower and provide more resources in our criminal justice system. The Garda budget has been slashed by 22%, overtime has been reduced by €42 million this year and the 2,000 extra gardaí promised before the general election have failed to materialised. This was one of the high profile election promises made by Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats and I call on the Minister to honour it; he has gone some distance in that regard in his speech. Where is the zero tolerance that was promised in the general election before last?

It is time the Government made crime and law and order a priority and made proper funding available. Scrimping on the overall Garda budget and cutting overtime is a cause of great concern. That is not the way to tackle the crisis. The Garda are overstretched and do not have the necessary numbers or resources to deal with the growing crime rate, as any garda will admit. The PULSE computer system was provided supposedly to assist the Garda but it has been an extremely costly white elephant at €60 million. It has increased rather than reduced bureaucracy. The Garda Representative Association has said that it is hampering gardaí at their work, forcing them to spend more time at their desks than on patrol.