Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am here on behalf of Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile. Crime and criminals come in many forms. When they leave their calling card behind them, people of all backgrounds carry the burden of their behaviour. Whether we live in large cities, small towns or in the countryside, crime has the same impact. It instills fear and isolation wherever one lives, creates personal and community instability, lowers the morale of both the police and communities, and instills despair.

It does not matter to criminals whether victims and communities are left reeling from a drugs crisis, which claims lives on a regular and frightening basis, particularly in Dublin. It does not matter to criminals whether families have had their homes burgled, whether persons have had their bikes or cars stolen, whether farmers have their farm implements stolen, whether persons have been bullied by a neighbour or youths who are out of control, or whether people have been beaten up for who they are or what they look like. Statistics show the scale of crime and they were reflected in a document entitled, Tackling Rural Crime, that Sinn Féin issued last April. Last year, there were 16,380 burglaries and 70,000 theft-related offences; vehicle theft increased by 3% from 4,594 in 2017 to 4,737 in 2018; robberies and sexual offences increased by more than 10%; €8 million worth of equipment and tools were stolen from construction sites; and 14,000 bicycles were stolen of which 83% were stolen in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Galway.

The first port of call for a distressed person trying to cope with the impact of a crime on him or her and his or her family is An Garda Síochána, which is to be expected because people look to the police for protection. People deserve to feel safe in their homes, on their streets and in their communities at all times day and night in all circumstances. The facts show that this is not the case.

One issue that I wanted to raise is the increase in homophobic attacks on our streets all around Ireland. Every week, when I look at Twitter, there is a new incident where a gay, lesbian or trans person has been beaten to a pulp. I refer to a person called Callum but as I have not spoken to him I will just use his first name. He tweeted: "Absolutely disgusting to say that myself and my boyfriend went out to enjoy my friend's 18th and got beaten up by four guys in Limerick last night".Craig McHugh said on Twitter-----