David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 117, to delete lines 5 and 6.

This relates to a proclamation ordering the apprehension of street robbers in Dublin. Could anybody deny that this is more necessary than ever? If it was necessary in the 18th century, my God it is necessary now. It is not about robbers but beggars and every kind of trollop and tramp all over the city. We should at least return to the days when there was an attempt to create order. This even pre-dates the establishment of the police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary or An Garda Síochána, for whom we should give grateful thanks to the Lord.

In a way I am half-serious about putting down these amendments as it would be a pity for the legislation to go through without any real intensive discussion. This casts us back in some ways; this comes from 1742, and at least they were trying to do something about robbery. I am a big fan of the gardaí but today a robbery is an ordinary event. Half the time they do not even send a fingerprint technician, as it is taken so casually that people are robbed. There are dippers on O'Connell Street and Grafton Street and so on. I look forward to the Minister of State telling me what is being done. He has very kindly supplied me with answers and explanations. He indicates that some of these provisions are spent, so why not resurrect them? Why not do something about the degree of public street robbery in this city? I will leave it at that so we can get to the other perhaps more important or serious elements.

I will not go on about this but I will make a contribution here and there. I treat this as an opportunity for ventilating significant public issues. Robbery is a significant public issue today, as are the other three matters I have put down for retention on the Statute Book. There are 368 pages under consideration and I have only suggested a few lines to be retained. I pay tribute to the Minister of State as I received the most interesting answers to my questions, although I do not fully subscribe to them.