Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. He is absolutely the right person at the right time. There is no doubt there is a huge weight of responsibility on his shoulders. We need to get this right and I have no doubt he will. I appreciate the fact he mentioned Jennie's law in his introduction. I worked closely with Jason Poole, whom the Minister met several times himself, in establishing a domestic violence register Bill. We hope to see that come to fruition under the Minister's leadership during this mandate.

This is an important topic and I am pleased to lead off on it for Fianna Fáil on this side of the House. We know everyone wants to live, and has the right to live, in a safe and secure community and home. Unfortunately, throughout the country we see communities dealing with the scourge of crime and antisocial behaviour. I know the Minister is committed to expanding, developing and strengthening the role of An Garda Síochána. The tagline he mentioned is important. It is a job worth doing. I thank all of those who help keep us safe on the streets of our towns, cities and communities.Aside from what gardaí do, the Judiciary is another really important part of this process, so it is important we get that legislation around sentencing right. I wish to make an appeal for Kildare on the appointment of judges. In Kildare, we currently have only one judge who deals with thousands of cases every single week. Unfortunately, in many cases where there is a level of urgency, particularly around family law, those cases keep getting put off week after week, month after month and year after year. I would appreciate if the Minister could look at that.

I want to talk briefly about preventative measures and youth justice programmes which are hugely important. From my own experience in Kildare - I am sure it is no different from other places - the vast majority of young people are excellent individuals who contribute to society and to their communities. Unfortunately, we have a tiny percentage who are wreaking havoc on their communities. There has been a particular problem in rural areas outside Naas and Newbridge. Senator McCarthy referred to this issue last week when he spoke about Rathasker Stud and only ten minutes ago, I spoke to Madeline Burns from there. In recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of euro worth of damage has been done. When we are talking about farms, we are talking about the welfare of animals, such as cattle and horses. We are now coming into the foaling season. We see young people going out for the hell of it to create havoc. It is very important to put an awful lot of thought into how we deal with this. The gardaí has been very helpful in this regard. It has been able to get some of the young people, but it is difficult because they are under age. It is known that similar has been done before and this needs to be taken into account.

Talking about rural crime, I also want to mention fly-tipping and dumping. This is a huge problem in rural parts of our country. Indeed, millions of euro has been spent on cleaning up the Curragh Plains after fly-tipping and dumping. It is worth looking at the Greentown Project in Limerick, which I would like to see rolled out for how we deal with young people. Extra CCTV is also very important. Retail crime is something we come across all the time. Talking to those in the retail industry and seeing the amount of shoplifting going on, it is something we need to take seriously and put a plan in place.

My final point refers to having a safe public place unit. It is really important when we look at our villages, towns and cities that we have proper public lighting and street planning. We must do our best to create positive and vibrant places for the communities that use those villages and towns. If not, places will turn into no-go zones and, unfortunately, everybody will suffer - those who live there and those who have day or night-time businesses there. I appreciate the opportunity to raise these issues with the Minister.