As far as I am concerned the majority of Ministers for Justice, from Kevin O'Higgins down to the present man, did their duty according to their consciences. High standards are expected from any man who occupies this exalted position and if we believe he is not living up to the high standard expected of him as Minister for Justice, if we believe that there are low standards in high places, then it is our duty to speak and let our voices be heard. I will be referring to that later on in my speech.
The Minister in his opening remarks said that legislation to deal with the jurisdiction of the circuit court and the district court was to be introduced shortly. I believe that is long overdue. He further stated that he must deal with a particular project on a priority basis and having regard to what appeared to him to be practical considerations. It is over three years ago since many of us here mentioned drug abuse. On 3rd October, 1966, I was told by the then Minister for Justice that legislation was to be introduced immediately to deal with this menace. We know this is a menace. We know this is a menace that affects ordinary human beings. We had at another time the threat of foot and mouth disease in our country. All the resources of this State were brought to bear on that. We congratulated the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries and the people concerned for the wonderful work they did at that time. In this case we are dealing with young boys and girls, our own kith and kin, brothers, sisters, relations, and I believe that the Department of Justice have been very remiss in this. Now, three years later, we are getting the legislation that should have been introduced in 1966. When I spoke about it in this House the Minister for Justice at that time, Deputy B. Lenihan, pooh-poohed the idea that we were faced with a problem. Unfortunately, we now know only too well that we have that problem. We know that over 80 raids have been carried out on dispensaries in this city alone during the last year. We know that drugs have been freely peddled in clubs and in schools. Even though it is better late than never, I still claim that the Department should have given this top priority and dealt with it three years ago.
We have also been promised legislation with regard to deserted wives. I should like to know what is the present position, when a man goes over to England and deserts his wife, about bringing him back. Those of us who are members of county councils know that ratepayers are paying very large sums at present in every county to help these unfortunate wives and children to exist. The State should try to bring the law up-to-date so that the husband can be brought back to honour his responsibilities in that regard. We have had repeated assurances that legislation would be introduced to provide more adequate maintenance for deserted wives and children over the last seven or eight years but very little has been done.
Three years ago we were promised legislation to deal with the carrying of flick knives. This is a serious problem. It should get top priority but nothing has been done in the last three years. Those of us who have been in this House over the last four years know that over a year and a half of Ministers' time, the Government's time, the country's time, the taxpayers' time, was used discussing and pushing through this House a Marts Bill and a referendum. I believe the time of this House and the State would have been much better used if we were bringing our existing legislation up-to-date. Indeed the Minister seems to react in the same manner as Lord Melbourne who once used the famous words, speaking of putting things on the long finger: "Ponder, pause, prepare, postpone and end by leaving things alone. In fact earn the people's pay by doing nothing every day". That is what the present Minister for Justice seems to be doing.
The Minister in his speech dealt with the question of bail. I happen to agree with him on this although some members of my party may not. He pointed out that 214 persons granted bail by the courts committed, while they were awaiting trial, over 900 fresh offences against property. That is a well-known fact. I spoke here of a particular man who stabbed a member of the Garda Síochána. He was sentenced to a year by the district justice, appealed against that and while he was out on bail he killed two other people. Those facts are known to the Minister and to the Department of Justice. I do not want to give his name. He has been sentenced recently for that crime. It is a well-known fact that there are bank robbers in this country. They dine very often in some of the biggest hotels here in the city. They are out on bail and on the day on which they were being allowed out on bail they told the Garda Síochána that they would commit eight other crimes between then and the day they were tried and that they would only get the same sentence. According to reliable information they have at least six crimes committed and still have not been apprehended. That is well known to the Garda authorities. I certainly think that if something cannot be done about allowing those people out on bail then extra justices or judges should be appointed. As Deputy Briscoe has said, people have to wait two years Cases, especially of a criminal nature, should be tried inside a month or six weeks or a maximum of two months, certainly as soon as the Garda authorities have got their file complete and while the trail is hot. It is wrong that many of those cases should be put on the long finger for as long as two years I hope something is done in that direction immediately.
The Minister spoke about the Adoption Board. Wonderful work has been done and we would all join in commending the Minister and the members of the Adoption Board for work well done, for bringing happiness to many homes. It is up to everybody to encourage this and do everything they possibly can to see that it is expanded.
The Minister also mentioned the closing of country barracks and the review being held. I do not agree with the Minister on this. It is a retrograde step to close many of those country barracks. The Minister claims that because of the peace in the countryside gardaí are not so urgently required and can be moved into cities and towns. The countryside is peaceful because the police force are in those areas. There is much more co-operation between the people and the police in country areas than there is in cities and towns. They have their fingers on the pulse of things. When a robbery takes place they are quickly at the scene. I appeal to the Minister not to close any more barracks. Rural Ireland is dying. When a village loses its barracks and perhaps its school there may be nothing left but a few public-houses. Apart from these reasons, it is desirable that gardaí be left in the rural villages so that they can help to prevent crime over a wide locality. In cases of accidents, too, the nearest town may be 15 to 20 miles away while the local Garda barracks might be only two or three miles away.
The Minister spoke also about the number of indictable crimes. I am aware that the detection rate is at a high level but 40 out of every 100 lawbreakers are getting away free. Recently there have been five or six bank robberies for which no arrests have been made. This is causing uneasiness throughout the country. I came from Mullingar on three occasions within the last few months after bank robberies had taken place and at every crossroads from Mullingar to Dublin there was a garda on duty. I do not know what one individual garda could do by standing at a crossroads. Was it expected that the bank robbers would drop the money beside him? Other Deputies told me that they saw gardaí on duty at other crossroads. Certainly, they should be out in the squad cars endeavouring to track down culprits especially in the immediate area but I do not know how one garda standing at a crossroads could be of any help.
Reference was also made to St. Patrick's Institution and to people who are sent to prison. As far as rehabilitation of prisoners is concerned, we should try to make useful citizens of them but they should not be pampered. Lawbreakers should be penalised, not pampered. In their rehabilitation they could, possibly, be given the opportunity of acquiring a trade if their term in prison were long enough to permit that and this would be useful particularly in the case of young people so that, on discharge they would be better members of society.
The Minister has promised legislation with regard to the Land Registry that will bring it up to an efficient standard. There have been many complaints about the long delays experienced in dealing with that body and we hope that the Minister will be successful in his endeavours so that cases can be dealt with more efficiently and with less delay.
Somebody has mentioned traffic wardens. I thought that these people were supposed to assist strangers in directing them in traffic and in any way possible but I now find that instead of being a social asset they are operating punitive measures against the public and that the greater part of their time is spent in putting stickers on cars. I would agree with Deputy Briscoe in his suggestion that they might spend more time tracking down offenders who might, perhaps, park in a one-hour zone for two or three hours.
Another matter which I mentioned last year, and which I shall not dwell on at length, is the question of the gardaí in squad cars badgering lorry-owners for illegal trafficking. Many of those people are labouring men or small farmers who are struggling to make a living and who, when they got a few pounds together through hard work, industry and initiative, purchased a lorry but when they proceed to transport a neighbour's cattle, they find that it is illegal to do so. We have been promised legislation to ease that situation but in the meantime I would appeal to the gardaí in squad cars to be as easy as possible on those people because there is a vast difference between a criminal who goes out to plunder his neighbour's goods and a hard-working man who may have a wife and family to support and who works, possibly 13 or 16 hours a day to make a living. It would be better for the gardaí if they tried to catch the bank robbers or other criminals than to spend their time arresting those unfortunate people.
I dealt earlier with the question of the number of blackguards in this city who carry flick-knives. Somebody else has made the point that there are not enough gardaí in the city to deal with the situation. We can say that there is under-staffing of the Garda in the city. We can also say that, nationally, the gardaí are underpaid. They should be protected. I know that we cannot discuss the judiciary but I would mention that our district justices seem to be too lenient with some of the blackguards brought before them by the gardaí, particularly in the city of Dublin.
There was a case recently where a garda was stabbed but the offender got away under the first offender's Act. Recently also, a student at a procession held here called a garda "an RUC ‘B'". He was arrested and brought to court but he got away with a warning. In a case of the stabbing of a garda, the very minimum penalty should be two or three years in Mountjoy.
The time has come when a statement should be made in this House to the effect that when a garda carries out his duties, he should be backed by his sergeant, by his superintendent and superiors, including the Minister. Nobody should have the authority to say to a member of the Garda Síochána who is conscientiously doing his duty that if he does not close his eyes to a particular thing, such as a publichouse remaining open half the night, he will be transferred to some remote part of the country. Unfortunately, that is happening in this country today and it is well known that in certain cases TDs and Senators can threaten gardaí. That is a deplorable situation and one which must not be allowed to continue. I gave examples last year of cases of young members leaving the force because of the amount of interference which they experienced in the operation of their duty.
The bankruptcy laws are completely outdated and need to be revised. As they are at the present time people can, it seems deliberately, buy cattle at sales marts and go bankrupt afterwards and it is a well-known fact they may have £40,000, £50,000, £60,000, £100,000, or more salted away in the wife's name or somebody else's name. It is a well-known fact that over the last ten years hundreds of people have gone bankrupt in this country and have ruined unfortunate families but they have been able to set up in business in less than a year with money which they had salted away. The bankruptcy laws should be brought up-to-date so that people who commit such offences will not get away with them.
As regards Garda programmes on television and the part they play in the detection and prevention of crime, everybody concerned is to be congratulated. Anything which gets the people to co-operate with the gardaí is commendable. The gardaí are our own kith and kin and they are there to protect our lives and our property. Unfortunately in this country, probably due to the fact that we had British Government for over 700 years, at one time people were not inclined to co-operate with the authorities. That attitude may have been understandable when the British were in control in this country but now that we have our own Government such an attitude is unjustifiable. Therefore, it is the duty of everyone in this House to appeal to the people to co-operate and participate in any way possible in the detection of crime and to bear in mind that if they do give information to a garda they are not, and should not be styled, informers.
People who co-operate with the gardaí are public-spirited citizens doing their duty. Unfortunately, in the city people do not come to the help of a garda who is in trouble. There was an example of this last year in a case where a garda had two or three men with knives cornered in an area. A crowd of two or three hundred people gathered and when the garda called for assistance there was not one public-spirited person in that whole assembly to come to his aid. They shouted to the men who were cornered to escape. They helped them to escape and they obstructed the garda in the execution of his duty. That was deplorable. The justice commented on it at the trial. Each of us should appeal to the people to co-operate with the gardaí and should remind them they are not informers when they help our own police force.
I should like to deal briefly with the carnage on our roads. We are sitting here on 9th December, 1969, and before this day 12 months at least 500 persons who are in their health and prime today will be done to death on the roads of Ireland. It is generally accepted that if there were more care, courtesy and consideration on our roads it might help to reduce accidents. The number of fatal road accidents is something which should shake everyone of us out of his complacency. Drunken drivers should be put off the road. I am not against people who drink but they should not be allowed to drive cars. The breathalyser test has been introduced but a great mistake has been made in regard to it. There was a build up about the date the breathalyser test was to be introduced. People who are fond of drink made arrangements that their wives or somebody else would drive them when they wanted to drink. Now, a month later there has been only one case in Cork and one in Dublin of the use of a breathalyser. We had got people to the point where they were going to co-operate with the gardaí but now we find that there is not a breathalyser in every Garda station. It would have helped greatly if car drivers knew they would be pulled in immediately if they had taken too much drink.
It is now rumoured that people are lapsing into their old habits. We should immediately instal breathalyser testing equipment in every Garda barracks so that drunkards will know that they have to comply with the law. The law states that a person who has consumed a certain amount of alcohol may not drive. A number of fatal accidents are caused by excessive drinking. The Minister should insist on the full operation of the law in this respect with a view to reducing the number of deaths on the road.
I am not sure if we are entitled to refer to the appointment of justices, although a Deputy has already referred to that matter. However, I think that the 44 per cent of the electorate who support this party should be aware of the facts.
