Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have just come in from another gorgeous day outside. We have seen beautiful sunshine and blue skies for some time now. People have been loving and hating it for a variety of reasons. The real issue that brings the good weather to my attention is anti-social behaviour.

I hosted a town hall meeting in Carlow last week and anti-social behaviour encouraged by the good weather was raised by a number of those present. We have beautiful villages and towns around Ireland, some near beaches and others near rivers and streams. Everyone is entitled to go down to these public amenities and enjoy them. However, this week it has been brought to my attention that people were drinking and littering the vicinity with empty cans, household rubbish and leftover food. It is a minority of people, it is unfair to others who are using the amenities.

While we have by-laws in each county governing this type of activity and there is anti-social behaviour legislation, the public does not feel empowered and often they do not know if what they are witnessing is illegal activity or not. It is quite simply unfair that we do not give the power of knowledge to our citizens and tell them exactly how to deal with this behaviour. They need information on who they should call. We all know that if one has an emergency, one rings 999, but when one comes across this type of behaviour who does one contact? We need greater public awareness about citizens' rights in these situations. We could do with a debate about our laws and how we can enforce them and make the public aware of them. Only this week, we have heard of a hosepipe ban and people were told they could be fined if they use a hosepipe to water the garden. The question must be asked about who will enforce it, who will fine them and sort this out. We have no enforcement of the law. Who will enforce these provisions? We need to bring the Minister to the Chamber to discuss the by-law and see what we can do to help people become more aware of the by-laws.

I am calling for a debate on this issue.