Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is important to emphasise, as I always do, that one of the problems I face as Minister for Justice is that people want to see more gardaí in every community. It is a great advantage we have in Ireland. In some other countries, people do not want to see a police force in their communities because they do not trust it. The overwhelming majority of Irish people trust An Garda Síochána and want to see members in their communities.

I should also have pointed out in my response that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment holds a retail forum on a quarterly basis with retailers and representative bodies. I also attended a meeting last October, as the Senator may have, of retailers concerned about the issue of retail theft. It is a serious issue. That is the reason I was there. I am conscious of trying to address it to assist retailers in giving them greater legal protections. I am conscious of trying to ensure An Garda has more resources. However, as the Senator also knows there is another aspect, which is the fact that many of the people involved in it, though not all, have addiction issues. That is an issue we need to figure out how to address. Nonetheless, that addiction issue should not interfere with the legitimate entitlement of people to run businesses and to serve the community as they do.

I will meet members of the retail forum in May to get their views about what a retail crime strategy might contain. It would also be interesting to hear the Senator's views, and indeed those of anyone else. It is important to conclude by stating that this is not a victimless crime. It has a serious impact on individuals and on businesses and it is also damaging for the appearance and safety of the city centre if people think retail crime can happen without consequence.