This House does funny things. I only want to refer to the effects of them. I think the Minister will have to approach this matter seriously and perhaps, later on, the House will be called upon to deal with it. Extraordinary powers may have to be taken in connection with it. So far as I can be of help to the Minister, I would suggest that he will have to increase the number of Guards in rural Ireland in order that there may be one or two extra men in every station who will be free to deal exclusively with criminal matters or, if he cannot see his way to do that, that he will have to organise the L.D.F. or the L.S.F. to act in co-operation with the Guards in doing patrol duty at night. I do not make that statement loosely and haphazardly. If that idea were adopted, it would have to be carried out in a systematic way. I do not think we can expect to get efficient service in enforcing the law without making proper provision. We cannot ask these men to do that work on a voluntary basis. We cannot reasonably expect them to go out on dark winter nights, when it is most essential that they should be out, on a voluntary basis. They may do it in a district for a week or ten days. I take it that they are on duty all night.
The Minister should take active steps to deal with this matter. If he does not do so, it will get completely out of hands and will reach a crisis. In that event very serious steps might have to be taken and the numbers of the Guards might have to be seriously increased. It is quite possible that with some plan for the coordination of the Guards with the L.D.F. the problem could be solved but it would have to be done in a systematic way, on a sound basis. In my opinion, it is no use simply asking the L.D.F. to do police duty at night, and to do it effectively, without some financial provision to compensate them for the sacrifices they will have to make. It would not do to put them on for a night now and a night again; they would have to go on duty every night or alternative nights. Alternatively, the number of Guards should be increased to provide at least two men extra in every barrack in the State.
I do not know what is coming over the country. It may be that the shortage of certain things has started this wave of housebreaking. It may be that men have lost employment and are now short of money and in desperation are doing these things. Whatever is the cause, it is not justifiable. I think the matter is reaching such serious proportions that the Minister should take immediate action in the matter. I am not saying that in order to raise alarm. The Minister has received returns from all over the country. He knows exactly the position. The figures he quoted here this evening speak for themselves but, over and above the actual convictions, there is a number of cases where there are no convictions. The Minister has reports of these from police officers throughout the country. I would like some details to be given to the House so that we might get a picture of the general trend.
I had these things in my mind on the occasion of the Estimate last year. Everybody in the House raised a furore about a simple matter and everybody, apparently, closed down on the serious matter of crime. I felt there was some misunderstanding about it owing to the atmosphere in the House and I closed down on it. I regretted having done so afterwards. I regretted that I did not say what I had intended to say. I do not want to overstate the case or to create unnecessary alarm but the House can appreciate, from the figures given by the Minister this evening, the trend of events in the country. I think we should have regard to the old maxim that prevention is better than cure and if in the last analysis, we are confronted with the fact that we will have to increase the number of Guards, the position should be dealt with in an effective way so as not to allow the country to drift into a situation that it would take a huge effort to remedy. If persons knew that the arm of the law was strong enough there would not be a temptation to commit crime.
Owing to the limited number of Guards in certain districts, there are whole tracts of country where it is impossible for the Guards to have any control. There are stretches of 10, 15, 20 and 25 miles of country in which there is no Guard at all. There is temptation to men who have lost employment. They may be hungry. They may be in need of things. I do not like the trend of events. Some of these things may be very petty in themselves but they reveal a grave tendency. I would like the Minister to tell us what reports he has received and if he proposes taking any steps to co-ordinate the Guards and the auxiliary forces. If this state of things continues people will become alarmed, and if law-breakers are armed they will take no steps to resist them.