Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Women in their sixties and seventies were afraid to go out to buy a bottle of milk after dusk. The middle classes rarely experience this. Furthermore, whereas a middle class family can take in its stride a window broken in a burglary and get on with life, an elderly woman who may not have her house insured must pay a considerable price, not to mention the psychological damage done to her as a result of having her house violated.

Dealing with crime is not just an issue for the haves in society, it is just as much an issue for the have-nots. The Garda does not put itself forward as the sole solution in the fight against crime. Every agency and citizen is part of this process. The decline in volunteering, to which Senator Kate Walsh referred, is also part of the problem. So many people are now opting out of voluntary activity and talking about the State's duty to provide this, that and the other for their children when in fact voluntarism is one of the sinews of a society that has solidarity. It is one of the factors most effective in changing a society suffering from despair and cynicism to one that functions as a community.

I do not pretend that by increasing the number of gardaí by 2,000 I am waving a magic wand over the crime figures, but I am delivering on a commitment this Government made and from which it never wavered. I am delivering on a commitment that was not simply a vote-getter but a social necessity. I say to my critics, particularly Senator Cummins, that I regret his amendment was not moved because I would have liked to have refuted it at great length. In one sense, it was symbolically correct that it was not seconded, thus proving that there is unanimity in the House that the additional 2,000 gardaí represent a step in the right direction.