Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, who regrets she cannot be present due to other official commitments. She is grateful to the Senator for raising this important matter in the Seanad today. At the outset, the Minister has asked me to state she is highly conscious of the distress which burglary and similar crime can cause to householders, as well as the broader impact the fear of crime can have in communities. In this regard, she is very much in sympathy with the Senator's intention of supporting law-abiding householders.

Earlier this year, the Minister initiated a broad and urgent review of our approach to burglary crime. An important fact arising from the Minister's review was that a large proportion of domestic burglaries are committed by a particular cohort of serial offenders. The clear view which emerged was that a new strategy to counteract these criminals should focus on two key objectives, namely, strengthening the law to get tougher on serial and repeat offenders and investing in the capacity of An Garda Síochána to enforce that law effectively. The Minister is now implementing this strategy and has introduced the Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Bill, which is aimed at those repeat burglars who have previous convictions and are charged with multiple offences of residential burglary. The new Bill will require the District Court to provide for consecutive jail sentences where a burglar is being sentenced for multiple offences and will allow courts to refuse ball for offenders who have a previous conviction for domestic burglary coupled with two or more pending charges. This Bill, which is expected to be enacted in the next few weeks, will go a long way towards giving the courts the power to ensure that repeat burglars are kept off the streets.

Of course legislation on its own is not enough and the Minister is in ongoing contact with the Commissioner to ensure the available Garda resources are used as effectively as possible. The Minister is prioritising the allocation of resources to enable the Commissioner to enhance the Garda operational response, in particular through the 550 new recruits being taken in to the Garda College this year, with a further 600 new recruits to commence training next year. Thus far, 295 new gardaí have been attested as members of An Garda Síochána and are now working in communities nationwide. This probably is the most tangible way the Government can demonstrate its commitment to providing people with the reassurance that comes from a visible and determined police force. The Minister also is ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the necessary vehicles and technology to respond to the highly mobile gangs behind much burglary offending. Having secured additional funding, she now anticipates that a total of 630 new Garda vehicles will have come on stream during 2015. Furthermore, the capital plan for 2016-21 provides €205 million for the ongoing delivery of new Garda vehicles, as well as investment in new technology and information systems. Such measures are of course additional to the extensive community policing and crime prevention measures which are implemented by An Garda Síochána countrywide. These include the work of Garda crime prevention officers and support for more than 3,900 community alert and neighbourhood watch groups, as well as the successful Garda text alert scheme, which is available in every Garda division and now has more than 130,000 subscribers.

In the context of the extensive investment under way and taking into account the Minister's ongoing discussions with the Commissioner and the heads of the other justice agencies, she is of the view that a generalised grant scheme for domestic alarms would not be the best use of the available resources to help protect communities from burglary crime. Instead, a focus is to be placed on working with communities and organisations to engage the community in preventing crime. To this end, the Minister recently has announced a doubling in the funding for both the community alert and the Crimestoppers schemes. Crime prevention measures at the level of individual households and businesses are extremely important, of course, and excellent advice is available from the Garda on the range of steps that can be taken to protect property. In terms of determining how best to allocate resources, however, the Minister considers that greater impact will be achieved for everyone in the community through the measures she is putting in place. The Minister hopes the Senator nevertheless will accept the increased resources which now are coming on stream represent a significant investment by the Government in enhanced policing and community safety in all areas.