Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 54:

In page 75, line 5, after “concerning” to insert “the number and nature of”.

These amendments concern section 77. Section 77 of the Bill provides for the collection, compilation and storage of statistical information by the Garda Commissioner. The section as drafted provides that the "... Commissioner shall ensure that ... statistical information [in relation to] offences, criminal proceedings and the state of crime in this State [in general terms are] compiled and stored". This is not an adequate provision as statistics are of limited use if they do not provide insights into the nuances of criminal behaviour. Simply counting the number of crimes committed does not provide any useful insight into the drivers of crime and, therefore, how to prevent it. It is difficult to understand or to prove inequality in the justice process because of the failure to collect disaggregated statistics. Lack of adequate data collection is a problem across the board in public life. There was a scenario in November in which parliamentary questions were tabled by Deputies Hourigan and Ó Ríordáin in the Dáil in respect of the extent of the use of stop and search powers by An Garda Síochána. The data could not be provided by the Minister within the timeframe for a response to the parliamentary question. These parliamentary questions were tabled by the Deputies as the relevant statistical data had not been published since 2014. We know stop and search powers are regularly invoked and, occasionally, abused on the suspicion that an individual may be carrying drugs on their person either for consumption or sale. We know too that Garda personnel are reluctant to let these powers go and that this is a major stumbling block in decriminalising the drug user.

Both of these amendments aim to expand the types of data collected, compiled and stored by the commissioner. Amendment No. 54 seeks to insert an explicit reference to the number and nature of offences committed in the State. Amendment No. 55 seeks to insert a reference to data concerning the use of search powers by An Garda Síochána. There was a separate amendment which was unfortunately ruled out of order so I will speak to the section as a whole. I am still figuring out if I will oppose the section entirely. Amendment No. 56 was ruled out of order. I will not speak directly about it now but it was disappointing not to see set down in primary legislation an obligation for appropriate collection of equality data broken down by key categories including race, disability, geographic location and income. It is crucial that our statistics capture racial, gender and socioeconomic variations and patterns of crime. The section as drafted only specifies that statistical information concerning offences, criminal proceedings and the state of crime in the State should be compiled and stored. This is not an adequate provision for statistics, which are of limited use if they do not provide insights into criminal behaviour, as I said about the previous amendment.

I have spoken a lot over the years about the connections between criminality and criminal behaviour and socioeconomic disadvantage and poverty. When I speak about collecting data about race and income, etc., it is not to blame criminality on them. However, common shared aspects are often poverty, disadvantage, not being able to gain decent employment, low levels of educational attainment and living on the fringes of society, etc. Those are not the drivers but there is often commonality between those categories as the core drivers of violence in society. It is a shame to have a policing Bill that does not gather that data to act as a preventative tool and not in any way blame or highlight particular communities. It is to create preventative measures and not just look at policing because safer communities also rely heavily on prevention. We have to know what it is we are preventing, why and what types of groups are most susceptible to becoming involved in crime at any level. Pockets of research hint at what we already know - criminal behaviour is largely driven by deprivation, as I said. The Irish Penal Reform Trust has called for a significant improvement in data recording and ethnic equality monitoring. The amendment I submitted is based on one proposed by the ICCL, which has called for similar improvements. I urge the Minister to potentially bring forward her own amendments. I do not think we can because they are all being taken together. We do not have the opportunity to table amendments on the next Stage, which is unfortunate. Will the Minister comment?