Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 15, before section 14, to insert the following new section:

"14.—(1) In making provision for any Garda recruitment process, the Commissioner shall set a target percentage of the minimum level of recruits who shall be ordinarily resident in an area designated as a RAPID area.

(2) In recruiting members of the Garda Síochána, the Garda Commissioner shall ensure that at least the minimum target level set under subsection (1) is achieved.

(3) In the Annual Report, the Commissioner shall provide details of the numbers recruited pursuant to subsection (2).".

I feel strongly about this issue and I hope to persuade the Minister to do something about it between Committee and Report Stages. The unconventional amendment I have tabled may be tweaked or changed but I ask the Minister to subscribe to the general principle underpinning it. I represent a large swathe of west Dublin in which there is an attitude problem between the community and the police and vice versa and something must be done about it. The amendment attempts to do so.

I refer to the issue of recruitment. The Minister may have noticed a series of parliamentary questions tabled in the other House on my behalf by Deputy Richard Bruton. I was trying to find out the number of Garda recruits from RAPID areas. While one may hate the name of the scheme, areas are designated as disadvantaged under it and their problems are highlighted through a range of economic and social factors. I suspect few recruits come from these areas. While the situation in Northern Ireland is totally different, a substantial cohort of people, for whatever reason, have a bad attitude to the police and vice versa. The only way to get to the root of this problem and to prevent other political parties with vigilante tendencies — I refer the Minister to his remarks prior to the local elections — is to do something specific.

The Garda should recruit young men and women from disadvantaged backgrounds. I am not a great believer in setting percentage targets but the legislation should provide for a specific policy under which the Garda Commissioner and his colleagues recruit young men and women from communities in which there is a disengagement with the police. The best way to prevent vigilantism and to improve attitudes among police and such communities is to recruit young people from them. The Patten report referred to the disengagement between the Roman Catholic community and the RUC and it made a proposal to radically increase the number of young recruits from that community.

The same scenario does not apply in this jurisdiction but it is analogous. A deliberate policy of recruitment of young men and women from disadvantaged communities should be introduced. It may not be appropriate to provide for such a policy in the legislation and the Minister has not said much on recruitment in the Bill. I ask him to seriously examine this issue.

I am flabbergasted by some of the attitudes to gardaí in parts of west Dublin. Some people have an ignorant attitude, try to provoke gardaí and argue that they do not have a legitimate function. The best way to change this attitude is to generate young recruits from these communities. I passionately believe in this. I urge the Minister to look at the RAPID model which has created designated communities because of social deprivation. We know these communities and must do something significant for them. I have put the case and am interested in the Minister's reply. As a matter of principle, we need to include a provision in the Bill with regard to recruiting young people from this kind of background and community.