Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 58: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the action he intends to take to deal with vandalism and anti-social behaviour which is causing problems in many communities with families harassed and property vandalised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15664/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I share the concerns expressed about anti-social behaviour and its effects on people. In many such incidents, vulnerable people, often the elderly, are subjected to serious nuisance and forms of harassment which cause significant and persistent distress to the people concerned and interfere fundamentally with their capacity to enjoy quiet and peaceful lives. Often such people are simply too frightened to stand up to their persecutors. Equally, few of them have the financial resources to engage lawyers to seek private law injunction-type remedies to protect their rights to enjoyment of their property.

To remedy this situation I intend to empower a senior officer of the Garda Síochána to apply to the District Court by way of civil procedure for an order which would prohibit a person from behaving in an anti-social manner. Similar to civil injunctions, breaches of which are punishable as a criminal contempt, a breach of such an order will be a criminal offence. This type of order is not an entirely new concept. Such an order is simply a mechanism whereby the law seeks to stop a person from behaving in a way which is causing significant distress to a community or to some person in that community. In this respect the principle behind such anti-social behaviour orders is similar to the judicial power to bind over, which is a very old power indeed.

I have brought forward these proposals by way of Committee Stage amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill 2004, which is currently before the Oireachtas Select Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights. I attach top priority to the enactment of this Bill and hope to see it complete its passage through the Dáil and Seanad without any undue delay.

Strong provisions are in place to combat vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The primary basis for the law regarding public order offences is the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994, which modernised the law in this regard. Furthermore, because of my concerns about the abuse of alcohol and its contribution to public order offending and broader social problems, I have brought forward tough new provisions to deal with alcohol abuse and its effect on public order in the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003. One of the provisions of the Act is to broaden the application of the temporary closure order penalty, which was originally introduced to combat under-age drinking, to cover also convictions for a series of offences, such as a licensee supplying intoxicating liquor to drunken persons and permitting disorderly conduct on the licensed premises.

The Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 2003 has also been enacted, the main purpose of which is to provide the Garda Síochána with additional powers to deal with late night street violence and anti-social conduct attributable to excessive drinking. It does this by providing for the closure of premises such as pubs, off licences, late night clubs and food premises where there is disorder or noise on or close to the premises, as well as the making of exclusion orders on individuals convicted of a range of public order offences, in addition to any penalty they might receive under the 1994 Public Order Act.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that the Garda Síochána has a proactive approach to policing anti-social-public disorder issues by immediate intervention, arrest and prosecutions or advice, as appropriate. Garda management makes every effort to provide a high visible police presence on the streets of our towns and villages through the deployment of uniform, detective units, divisional traffic corps, community policing units and mountain bike units as appropriate.

Under the Garda juvenile diversion programme divisional juvenile liaison officers regularly visit schools, youth clubs and social services to give presentations under the education programme and highlight alternative options for regular offenders. Community gardaí and the Garda schools liaison officers also visit schools and address young people on a variety of topics including anti social behaviour.

Members of the Garda Síochána are frequently in contact with other Government and non-government agencies, including the Health Services Executive and the local authorities in order to have a multi-agency approach to addressing criminal issues. This multi-agency liaison will continue.

I am further informed that Operation Encounter, which was introduced by Garda management in 2002, targets public disorder offences including assaults and offences committed by underage persons under the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1998. In excess of 337,000 offences have been detected up to 26 March this year under Operation Encounter. This figure is provisional, operational and is liable to change.