Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second the opposition to the Order of Business proposed by my colleague, Senator Daly. The International Protection Bill 2015 is an important piece of legislation and it should be given time to go through this House in an orderly manner. I appreciate, as Senator Cullinane stated, that the Leader is being put under pressure in this regard, but the guillotine should not be used unless it is necessary to do so. It is not necessary to do so in this case. We still have two weeks remaining here and, if necessary, part of the following week. There is plenty of time and the guillotine should not be used.

I ask the Leader that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, come to the House. The Minister has been here to discuss other pieces of legislation. I make this request while defending the fact that legislation should not be guillotined, but we have an urgent need to debate rural crime. It is something that has been raised on all sides of the House over the past number of weeks and months.It has reached crisis. Recently, a public meeting was held in Swanlinbar in west Cavan. The situation regarding rural crime has deteriorated to such an extent that locals have taken matters into their own hands and formed the local area protection group with the aim of assisting the Garda in trying to stamp out rural crime and, in this case, cross-Border crime. A number of weeks ago, Senator Terry "the Scobe" Brennan lauded the decision made by the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner to put additional gardaí in County Louth. Such deployment is welcome but the gardaí were taken from one region and put into another high-profile Border area.