Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support the comments that Senator Murphy made about front-line workers. As he will be aware, later on tonight the Labour Party will use its Private Members' time to discuss healthcare workers and the attacks on healthcare staff that have taken place. The Labour Party supports what is sought by the unions and we will discuss the matter later tonight.

I wish to use my time to support the comments that Senator Murphy made about gardaí. I support the call made yesterday by the Garda Representative Association, GRA, for the establishment of a special task force to combat this violence. I am sure we are all horrified at the level of violence perpetrated against serving members of An Garda Síochána, over the last number of weeks in particular.I am sure we are all horrified by the level of violence perpetrated against serving members of An Garda Síochána over recent weeks in particular. These acts of mindless violence come at a time when our communities are at their most vulnerable and in most need of gardaí. Unfortunately, the number of people entering the force has continued to drop. Only 136 of the expected 200 training members started training this week. There has been a marked increase in the number of attacks on gardaí in the local communities they police. As other Senators have said, urgent action is needed to address this totally unacceptable behaviour. As for setting up a task force, consideration of the level of physical and online abuse that gardaí are subject to must also be part of any such task force. As well as experiencing abusive behaviour on the beat, members have reported a marked increase in online abuse across a wide range of social media platforms. The Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 must be urgently reviewed in this context because it does not include the offence of abuse on social media platforms.

We are all aware of the tremendous work gardaí do on a daily basis amid the dangers they face. It is simply not good enough that the members of the force continue to suffer. We know more and more gardaí are opting to leave the force because the work is simply unsustainable. The number of members in rural and urban stations continues to fall. It is time for us to support the call for a task force to examine this drop-off in numbers. It is also time to examine what we, the Oireachtas, needs to do, as Senator Eugene Murphy said, to support the work of gardaí. I ask the Leader to organise a debate with the Minister for Justice. I know there was a similar debate in the Dáil this morning.

I wish to raise the issue of vacant house. The preliminary census will tell us that there are 166,000 vacant houses. We are all aware of the new Croí Cónaithe grant the Government introduced. While it is a very worthwhile grant which can make a difference, I am experiencing some problems with it on the ground. One of the issues relates to the requirement of a person to produce proof that the house has been vacant for two years. People find this requirement very difficult and have called it the number one issue. The Croí Cónaithe grant for vacant buildings varies between €30,000 and €50,000. It has been regularly advertised in the media in recent weeks. It is a great grant but we need to discuss it further because some aspects of it are not working on the ground. This grant can make a difference.