Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

----- although I know that was not his intention. I thank him for his detailed contribution, which contained much with which all of us can agree. Nobody doubts his personal commitment to doing the best job he can. That goes for the Minister of the day irrespective of his or her party or Department.

I followed the debate on the monitor while I was preparing to come down to the Chamber and I heard the Minister switch with agility from the previous Government's national recovery plan to the current Opposition's pre-budget submission and back again. We often hear that the previous Government did this or that. I was not in the previous Government. The people have adjudicated on its manifesto and the national recovery plan and my party lost 53 seats. My job as one of the 14 Members elected to the Seanad for Fianna Fáil is to hold this Government to account on its performance. If we were to do that based on its own manifesto, we would be looking at the greatest act of political delinquency any of us ever witnessed in regard to the promises made under all headings. I do not refer to the Minister's area in particular. When a question pertaining to health was put to the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Perry, his only refuge was to hang up on live radio. Senator Kelly could tell the Minister about the accident and emergency departments of Roscommon. We could go through all the various issues. The figures were known at the time because the then Opposition had access to the books of the Department of Finance. Opposition Members even met the same troika which informs me regularly that it does not prescribe every cut needed in Ministers' respective areas. They merely suggest cuts but they are happy to go along with alternatives provided the bottom line is the same. We must be fair in these debates and if the Minister's only response to constructive criticism of his performance is to look to the already adjudicated on Government of the past, that is wrong. When one is playing football today one does not blame the team of yesterday for losing the game or playing badly. I am sure somebody as experienced in politics and the legal profession as the Minister can at least concede that it is a poor response to constructive criticism.

As someone from regional Ireland - Sligo town in the north west - I have raised the issue of the Garda fleet of vehicles well in advance of the recent criminal tragedies. I am not being opportunistic in raising the issue again this week. There are eight detectives in the unit in Sligo, which is the ninth largest urban centre in Ireland, and six in Cavan town. These two units share one car between them. Under anybody's calculations that does not provide adequate resources to allow people to do their job. The term "aggravated burglary" used to be quite foreign to our part of the country. When the Troubles in the North were at their height there may have been times when these crimes were more regular but it has now become a real concept. I am sure Members have similar experiences in their own parts of the country. West County Sligo, for those who are not familiar with it, stretches from Ballina and along the coast into Ballisodare and Sligo town. According to the official figures, there are eight gardaí in that area. The reality on the ground is that two gardaí are on duty at any one time and the area is covered by the superintendent in Ballymote, which is more than 80 minutes drive. If a serious incident occurs on a day when somebody has called in sick, one law enforcement officer will be available to respond. The area has suffered several serious aggravated burglaries, including an incident involving a lady who was recovering from an illness and whose husband brought the family to mass in the evening. Two men with balaclavas came into the house to steal whatever they could. People wonder how this can happen but it is basic mathematics. If I am a criminal who knows that two gardaí cover an area at any one time it is a simple issue of finding an accomplice to watch the gardaí while I rob the house.

If it were merely a case of Stepaside to town or Dalkey to Dún Laoghaire I would agree with the Minister but as somebody who is familiar with the culture of rural Ireland and the fact that people live in different villages and even islands, I recognise the need to deploy gardaí on the ground. Conversations I have had with gardaí who are friends of mine suggest that morale in the force is at an all time low. As this problem extends back to the previous Government, do not think I am letting it away with it. This is a challenge for all of us. I do not say it is a specific issue of resourcing but we need to address it. I commend the Minister on his efforts but more must be done. Perhaps he needs more resources from his Government colleagues to do what is necessary.

I will conclude on a point with which I am sure the House will agree. A colleague in the Dáil spoke about the use of cocaine and class A drugs as if they were like trying a pint of Guinness or a different type of pasta in a restaurant. I resent that attitude. The Deputy in question may be in breach of the code of conduct for Members of the Oireachtas and any buffoon who uses cocaine and boasts about it without connecting bullets in the back of people's heads on a weekly basis is deluded and, quite frankly, has no place in these Houses.