Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Just over 25 years ago I had the experience of being at the receiving end of a kidnap threat. Armed gardaí protected my family and me for some time. At that stage I fully appreciated that we had the ability to arm gardaí if we wanted to on occasions of concern. However, in the fight against crime we must all do out best to ensure we do not need to resort to that in the future.

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend some time with the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. He explained why he wanted to opt out of a number of clauses in the reform treaty, which was that he wished Britain could combat crime in the manner it wished. That may not apply in the same way to the Irish position and we may not certainly agree but this is not the time to debate the opt-out clause. However, Ireland must protect itself regarding its ability to fight crime in various ways. Our criminal justice code is based on the common law system under which one is innocent until one is proven guilty whereas the Napoleonic code, which applies throughout the rest of Europe, has a different basis. I am a committed European but I can understand that certain aspects of the reform treaty need to be controlled by ourselves.

I spent time a number of years ago with Václav Klaus, the current President of the Czech Republic, who was prime minister at the time. When I mentioned my enthusiasm for the European Union, he said he was in favour of a united Europe but he had a big brother in Moscow for 40 years and he did not want to substitute a big brother in Brussels for him. His views are not necessarily politically correct in Europe nowadays but it should be ensured the subsidiarity that has always applied in Europe means legislation and regulations can be kept close to home rather than being passed up to Brussels. I make this case particularly in regard to crime.

We do not have the same position on crime as others. For example, the media's sin is the way they present crime stories as if they were much more common than they are. They very rarely point out that, even with the dramatic increase in violent crime in the past few years, the level of such crime is relatively low in Ireland compared with international standards but to read the newspapers and to listen to or watch the broadcast media, one would be forgiven for making the inference that Ireland is the leading crime country in the world. I do not say we should turn a blind eye to that but let us make sure, in combating crime, we do not go over the top. Let us make sure crime is combatted in a manner that will protect our citizens without losing the dignity and perseverance of elements in our society, which we should make sure we do not lose.