Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as teacht isteach chun labhairt linn inniu. Beidh mise leanúnach le seasamh Shinn Féin maidir leis an ábhar seo agus ar ndóigh beidh muid ag caitheamh vóta in éadain na moltaí atá os ár gcomhair inniu.

As the Minister of State knows, criminality is a scourge on our communities. All parties across this island must be both united and relentless in our pursuit of ending criminality. It must be made clear that those responsible for the recent killings and the ongoing feud in Dublin or anyone involved in organised crime must face the courts and be brought to justice. There can be no equivocation in respect of that. If they are found guilty and prosecuted, then they must face the sentences handed down to them. There is no equivocation in that.

The Minister spoke yesterday evening in the Dáil about improved and increased resources to An Garda Síochána to help combat organised crime. It should be noted that in recent years it was the Fianna Fáil Party that closed Templemore and stopped recruitment of members to the force, a measure continued by the previous Fine Gael Government, but now both want a tough response to such matters. While I welcome the recent announcement of increased investment in tackling crime, it has to go beyond investment in armed response units. If we want long-term solutions to deal with organised crime, we need to prevent young people from going down that path in life. We need to invest in programmes with a proven track record of working, such as the youth and juvenile diversion programmes. These are areas in which we need increased investment. The legislation we are being asked to extend today for a further 12 months does not have the effect of ending criminality in communities. It clearly has not worked, although it has been in existence for the past 20 years. We also have to look at international best practice and what actually does work. What does is increased investment at community level in meaningful programmes that prevent young people from engaging in criminality. It is important to say that it is not only young people who engage in criminality. Sinn Féin is opposed to criminality and we will support any measure we feel will work towards ending it.

The Fresh Start agreement negotiated in November last year by the Executive in the North deals with measures around stronger law enforcement and co-operation with the Government in this State, aimed at tackling organised crime and criminality. A new joint agency task force has been established, led at senior management level by An Garda Síochána and the PSNI, the Revenue Commissioners and Revenue and Customs. This new inter-agency task force will bring together the expertise of a range of law enforcement agencies involved in tackling organised crime gangs that seek to exploit the Border between the two jurisdictions. The Good Friday Agreement, which preceded it, requires steps towards security normalisation, including the progressive elimination of the Act's provisions. It is not justifiable to continue with this legislation with the Good Friday Agreement now in place for a full 18 years.

No emergency exists that could justify the continuation of the draconian measures contained in the sections that are up for renewal, or the rest of the Offences against the State Acts. This legislation has a highly corrosive effect on human rights, civil liberties and democratic life in this State. We in Sinn Féin are not alone in our opinion of that, given that the UN Human Rights Committee, Amnesty International and many other groups have stated this issue needs to be dealt with by this State as a matter of urgency. Certainly from a northern perspective, I have worked with the PSNI and seen the change in policing, moving away from a very negative, draconian and oppressive culture. Although the change is still incomplete and imperfect, much has been achieved in terms of independent oversight and creating a force that is community oriented and compliant with human rights. There are lessons to be learned to set the highest possible standard for international best practice for both policing services across this island, which puts the ending of criminality, but also the rights of and protections for citizens, at its heart.