Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In response to what Senator Davitt said about money resting in accounts, as we know, it does not always earn interest. Fr. Ted Crilly was a great man for saying that money was resting in his account.

I wish to make two brief points. First, I do not believe that mandatory sentences are the way to deal with violence against police. The people who go to jail on mandatory sentences will get six months or a year at Mountjoy and their life is ruined as a consequence. Financial penalties are sometimes far more effective than putting some young fellow into jail.

Second, I refer to a certain type of case that has arisen in the past. I remember a case involving a Sinn Féin supporter called McIntyre who got substantial damages after being prosecuted for assaulting gardaí when he proved to a jury that he had been the victim of the assault. There has to be a fair approach to all of this. Sending people to jail on a kind of American basis where there is no hope for them and they have to go to jail is not the answer to the problem. Nobody is more supportive of the Garda than I am, but I just do not think it would achieve its stated purpose.

On what was said about the motion in the names of Senator Boyhan, me and others, I do not think Senator Boyhan wants to deprive anybody of the opportunity of discussing the matter. If the Leader were to indicate that some time would be made available to discuss this issue at some point in the future where everybody in the House could have an opportunity to put their tuppence worth, we could arrive at a happy solution rather than put the matter to a vote.