Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with what Senator Boyhan said about the RTÉ "Prime Time Investigates" programme, which found that 300,000 crimes were committed by persons on bail between 2003 and 2011, amounting to 2,000 every month. This is unacceptable and I ask for the Minister to come to the House to discuss how we can resolve this. I understand that there is separation between the judicial system and ourselves. I ended up in court 25 years ago when I was caught for after-hours selling in a pub I owned. When I went to court I was absolutely terrified because I come from a law-abiding community. A few years ago I got a speeding fine in Carlow. I am one of these politicians who does not go to court but I was shocked when I heard of these repeat offenders.However, I was very impressed by the competence and control of the superintendent at the time. Gardaí and judges need to work with the political system to deal with people who reoffend. I do not know what can be done but we need to debate this serious issue. Last night, we saw the result of the US Senate election in Alabama, with the Democrats' Doug Jones defeating Roy Moore of the Republicans. This is a huge defeat for President Trump. Maybe we should acknowledge it. I am not commenting either way, but-----