Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I ask for a debate on crime. I welcome the proposal to have legislation to deal with serious criminals. I recognise that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and the Garda Commissioner, Fachtna Murphy, are in Templemore to inspect 100 Garda reserves who are graduating today. The fact that there are only 300 such reserves in active service and 200 in training, or coming out of training, is something that we need to explore with a view to making greater progress, given that we were looking towards a figure of approximately 4,000. Although there is a problem with serious crime, other types of community policing need a boost and I would like the issue to be addressed as soon as possible.

I call for a discussion on the implementation of the Children Act. That Act is there not only to protect the child, but also to encourage parents to be responsible for the role of their children. In some respects, this tallies with the discussion about social work. It is not just about being able to intervene to protect the child but, where parents cannot cope with a child, to be able to intervene in that situation. A broad debate needs to take place about this and about the implementation of the Children Act and its strengths and weaknesses. That will lead to a debate I called for previously in regard to sentencing and the role of the Judiciary in ensuring people receive adequate and appropriate sentences.

I draw the Leader's attention to a matter I have raised in this House on a number of occasions, namely, the change in status of Magilligan Port from international to domestic to facilitate the continued operation of the Foyle ferry which carried more than two million passengers in the past two years. This move has been very much welcomed in the north-west region and is another sign of hands across the Border co-operation working at its best. It is a new dispensation for us in the north west under the British-Irish Agreement.