Deputy Moran, when dealing with this Estimate on the last day it was under consideration, referred to the case of a court messenger employed in the County Mayo to execute warrants, and said that, by reason of the distance he had to travel to execute a warrant, his travelling fees amounted to £5 on the execution of a warrant for £2. The Deputy also mentioned quite casually that the court messenger collected a fee, or rather a bribe, of 5/- from the person upon whom the warrant was to be executed on condition that he made a return of mulla bona to the court. If that is an ordinary or a usual happening in the County Mayo, or any other county, it represents a very serious state of affairs, and ought to bring to the notice of the Minister and of the Government the urgent need there is for a drastic reform in the manner in which these officers are appointed. Reference has been made to the fact that, as far as the ordinary citizens of this country are concerned, particularly those in the rural areas, law and order, the Government and the Constitution of this country are represented by the Gárda Síochána, but, in many rural areas, law and order, the Government, the Constitution, and this House are represented by the court messenger, and if he is an unjust, a dishonest or an unworthy official, then the entire State is thereby discredited. For that reason, I think it is the duty of the Minister to insist upon proper persons being appointed to execute the warrants and orders of our courts.
Last week I addressed a question to the Minister for Justice in connection with the appointment of a court messenger in the County Wicklow. I asked by whom he had been appointed, and was informed by the Minister that this person, John Breheny, was appointed by the sub-sheriff or the under-sheriff with the approval of the Minister for Justice. The facts of the matter are that the sub-sheriff has been in failing health for a considerable time, and that the entire business which this court messenger had to execute was taken completely out of his hands. Therefore, the statement that the man's appointment was by the under-sheriff does not appear to be correct, particularly in view of the fact that he was in the service of the State in a number of other counties for the same purpose—namely, the collection of arrears of land annuities. As appeared from the evidence given at his trial he had been employed in Cork, and, I think, in Waterford. It would seem clear, therefore, that this man was appointed by the Minister. That is the position as far as the people in the County Wicklow have been informed. Furthermore, the Minister stated that this man offered no sureties for the due and proper discharge of the duties of the position. It seems an extraordinary thing that a man should be appointed to collect large sums of money and to fill such a responsible position, without being asked to offer sureties of some kind or another. If a decent, respectable citizen offers himself for employment as a breadvan driver, before he is even allowed to take out a load of bread, he has to put down a deposit and provide adequate security to safeguard his employer against fraud. In this connection we are appointing a man under the authority of the State with power to collect sums of money running into thousands of pounds, and we do not ask or expect him to offer even 1/- by way of security. That seems to me to be a reckless and altogether absurd method of employing an official to carry out such important duties. As a result of the reckless manner in which this appointment was made, we had the position in which this man was brought to justice on the charge of defrauding the State to the extent of £240. He was convicted, and sentenced to three years' penal servitude. That, in itself, is a very serious reflection upon the Minister's Department.
The judge, in giving his decision in the case, stressed the fact that this man was appointed to administer justice, that he was collecting sums of money from very poor people who were unable to meet their demands, and for that reason it was a very serious crime to defraud such people.
The gravity of this man's offence is not, in my view, as great as that of the Minister and his Department in making such an appointment in so reckless and irresponsible a manner. We all wish the State and the administration of the law to be held in the highest possible esteem and I am stressing this point in order to bring home to the Minister that it is absolutely necessary, in the future, to ensure that proper care will be taken in the making of those appointments. I have no wish to add anything to the blame which has been showered upon the head of this unfortunate individual. So far as the people of Wicklow are concerned, they cherish no ill-feelings towards him and they would entertain no resentment if the Minister were to mitigate his sentence in any way. There is no ill-feeling against him but there is a strong feeling that the people should be protected against this type of lawless official. I hope that, not only in this case but that in all cases where it is necessary to employ men, either in the Gárda or in any other branch of the Minister's Department, to discharge unpleasant duties, the appointments will be made by competitive examination and that the applicants will be subjected to all the tests to which the ordinary civil servant has to submit. I hope that, in addition, he will be required to offer the necessary security to guard against his defrauding the State.
The civil servants in this country, generally, have a high reputation. Whatever may be said about their efficiency or otherwise, they have, certainly, the reputation of being honest, fair and sincere in carrying out their duties. It is altogether wrong that the regular civil servants should be discredited by the drafting into the employment of the State of irregular officials in a temporary capacity— persons who are employed mainly because of their want of principle or on account of their toughness, their lack of scruple or their lack of a sense of responsibility. This has happened in connection with other persons incorporated in the Gárda in a temporary capacity. These men discredited the force and had to be fired out in due course. The Minister has been warned and the people expect him to accept the warning and to see that the standard of rectitude, honesty and responsibility in his whole Department is raised.
So far as the regular members of the Gárda are concerned, they have reflected credit upon this State. They were recruited at a time when it was rather difficult to recruit such a Force from a comparatively small population. Notwithstanding that, they have given great satisfaction and have been, to a great extent, responsible for the preservation of order and for the respect given by the people to the State and the institutions of the State. In view of those facts, the Minister would be well advised to look carefully into the reasonable demands and requirements of the Gárda. From many counties and towns, we hear serious complaints from members of the Gárda in regard to the housing accommodation with which they are provided. It is true that a fairly generous rent-allowance is made to Gárdai but, unfortunately, in most provincial towns—I think this is true also of the city—the rents charged to members of the Gárda are so high that even this generous allowance of £30 a year is not sufficient to enable them to obtain decent accommodation.
I think that it is time the Minister considered the inauguration of a housing scheme in the principal towns for the members of the Gárda. He should consider the building of suitable houses for Gárdai who are married and living out of barracks. He could, I think, provide housing accommodation for the Gárdai at a much cheaper rate than that represented by the amount provided in this Estimate and, in that way, he would save money to the State. There is no doubt that members of the Gárda are being imposed upon by the owners of houses in our towns. In addition, a proper housing scheme for Gárdai would make for efficiency inasmuch as the Minister could ensure that the houses were provided in whatever quarter of the town was most suitable for the discharge of official duty. It would be desirable that all members of the force should be housed at a convenient distance from the Gárda station so that they would thereby be available if called upon for emergency or urgent duty. That, I think, is a reasonable suggestion which the Minister should consider. By so doing, he would save quite a considerable amount of money. I do not think that provision of suitable houses for the Gárdai would exceed in cost £500 per house. Unless the State were to borrow that money from private financiers and pay a high rate of interest, repayment in respect of that house should not exceed £5 a year if the house were to last for 100 years. Surely, that would be a very great saving of public money?
Deputy Mulcahy suggested that some senior officers were unworthy to be members of the force. I have no knowledge of these officers but I do know that senior officers are permitted to remain in the same division for too long a period. In some cases, senior officers have been in charge of the same division since, practically, the inception of the force. That is completely wrong, particularly having regard to the number of changes and transfers made in the case of ordinary members of the force. I do not think that senior officers should be specially privileged by being allowed to remain in the same town, district or division for a prolonged period. It does not make for efficiency. There is another matter in regard to which I know there is considerable dissatisfaction. That is the length of time which elapses before subsistence allowances are paid to members of the force. Officers and men of the Gárda Síochána engaged in duty on behalf of the State, and incurring expenditure in the course of that duty, are men who have very limited means. It is not right or proper that a period of two months, in some cases, should elapse before a subsistence allowance claimed is paid. That is a matter to which the Minister should give his attention.
Some time ago I asked a question in regard to a very widespread nuisance in this country, that is, the number of gipsies and vagrants of various kinds who are allowed to camp upon our roads, and particularly upon the byroads in our rural areas. These people are inflicting a very serious hardship upon small holders and rural dwellers generally. The Minister replied that he would obtain a report from the Gárdaí in connection with this type of nuisance. I do not know whether he has completed his inquiries or not. This is a matter in which the farming community generally and the rural population, and also the people in our small towns, are gravely concerned. It has been referred to on various occasions in connection with the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. No matter what action may be taken by the Gárda Síochána or by individuals or by officials of the Department of Agriculture, this type of people travelling from district to district with live stock of all kinds represents a serious danger. That aspect has been stressed in other debates.
There is also the fact that there has been serious trespass upon farmers' land, including land under crops, and upon gardens. There has also been a considerable number of petty larcencies of firewood and fences between fields, and other property. The people concerned have to suffer this without any hope of redress. For small offences the Gardaí are almost powerless to deal with this type of person. They may summon them, and succeed in duly serving the summons, but usually when the court is held the defendants cannot be found, and hardly ever can be properly located. Any person of this type who wishes to move from place to place and wishes to camp in one district one day and another the next day, should be compelled to take out a licence and be duly registered. This does not imply any reflection whatever on this class of people. Any citizens of this country who wish to camp out, or have no fixed residence—whether they call themselves tourists or tinkers—should be compelled to take out a licence. That is only proper and reasonable. The person who is residing on the roadside in one Gárda district to-day and in another to-morrow, cannot easily be brought to justice if he commits an offence.
In such cases also the School Attendance Act is ignored. Then they cannot be brought to justice either. There is also considerable cruelty to animals, particularly to aged horses, and there is no proper means of redress. I do not pretend to be a faddist or an enthusiast in connection with the protection of animals. I would have sympathy with an ordinary working man or a farm labourer who might possibly lose his temper with an animal, or with a man who, through some temporary neglect on his part, may overlook an animal suffering pain. However, there should be no sympathy whatever with the person who deliberately inflicts cruelty on aged animals. It is well known that if an old horse comes into the possession of these people he becomes a young horse within two or three days. The animal may be bowed down by the weight of years, and hardly able to drag his legs along, but within two or three days the same animal will appear in a fair stepping along like a candidate for the Grand National. How is that brought about? I can tell the Minister that it is brought about by cruelty. The animals are terrified, and, for the moment, they lose a certain amount of the appearance of age. That state of affairs should not be permitted, tolerated or winked at in this country. For all these reasons I am suggesting that those people who enjoy this freedom from rates and rent—and, to a great extent, from detection when guilty of minor offences—should be registered or licensed, as the Minister may think fit.
I have heard frequently that the salaries paid to members of the Gárda Síochána are not sufficient. Although I have heard complaints, I think that, as far as the ordinary Gárda is concerned, there is not very much ground for complaint. There is no doubt whatever that a member of the force who is blessed with a very large family finds it extremely difficult to make ends meet at the present time, particularly in view of the high rents and the general high cost of living, especially in our larger towns and cities. In this connection I would like the Minister to consider the question of family allowances. The question has been before the public to a great extent, and as members of the police force are generally singled out for experiments, it might be no harm if the Minister would speak to the Minister for Finance in regard to this matter, and suggest that the experiment of family allowances should be tried on a small scale in connection with members of the force who have large families.
There is another matter in regard to which I have also heard some complaints, that is, that the number of Civic Guards on night duty in our cities is not sufficient for the proper patrolling of those places. I do not know how far that is true, but I do know that at present the system of patrolling towns and cities at night is absurd. Anybody knows that to send men out in full uniform and on foot to patrol a certain confined beat in a town or city is not the best possible means of preventing or detecting crime. Two men in civilian clothes, equipped with ordinary push bicycles and given a large part of the city to patrol would be far more effective in the detection of crime. A potential criminal, a housebreaker or other offender, would know exactly where uniformed members of the police are to be found. If members of the police force were disguised as ordinary civilians the task of the potential criminal or law-breaker would be much more dangerous and difficult. I know that in every town and city there is probably a number of men on duty in plain clothes, but I think that the number should be greatly increased. As far as night duty is concerned, there is very little reason for having uniformed men on duty. What is required are men who will be really dangerous to the law-breaker. The same applies to a limited extent in regard to ordinary day duty. I think a larger percentage of the force should be disguised as ordinary civilians when on duty. The man who goes out to break the law does not dress himself in a showy uniform so that everybody, and particularly members of the Civic Guard, may know what his intentions are. In the same way, there is no reason why members of our police force should make themselves obvious to the criminal. I think also that there is too much foot work, too much walking up and down beats. It does not serve any useful purpose. A man who can cover a considerable amount of ground on a bicycle is usually much more efficient. In connection with night duty, I think if any member of this House were to walk up and down one or two streets for eight hours he would find that by the fifth or sixth hour his efficiency would have declined very much. He would be weary, fatigued, and foot sore. Such conditions do not make for efficient police work. If men were sent out in plain clothes, on cycling patrols and returned, say, once in two hours or once every hour for a smoke and refreshment, they would be much more efficient in the discharge of their duties and would be more dangerous to the offender or potential offender.
I make these suggestions to the Minister in good faith and I wish to underline my original suggestion that in connection with the whole system of the appointment of court messengers he will look into the matter and see that the men appointed are of the highest possible character and give adequate surety for their good conduct.
