I move:
That Dáil Éireann condemns the Government for their failure to provide adequate and secure prison accommodation to meet the present needs.
The very fact that the House finds it necessary to debate this motion is, in itself, an indication of the very serious social and economic conditions prevailing in the country for some time. I understand that this is the first time the House has found it necessary to debate a motion of this nature. The need for this debate arises from the growing level of public unease and concern about the serious deterioration in law and order over the past two years in particular.
The evidence of this deterioration is reflected not only in the statistics of crime but also in a more tragic and vivid way in the trauma, misery, fear and insecurity on the part of many citizens who have been the victims of this wave of violence which many people believe is unprecedented in the history of the State. There is no other area of national administration where the State is bound and expected to play a more major role than in protecting the lives and property of our citizens. Regardless of living standards and other social problems, if citizens cannot feel secure in their homes, if they are not free to walk the streets in safety, if they cannot leave their cars in safety outside their homes, if our banks and public buildings are under attack and if old people feel at risk particularly in rural areas, we in this House must take serious note, because our reason for being here, which is to create a social order in which people can work and live in a peaceful and contented environment, is put under attack.
I have no desire to make political capital out of a very serious challenge to all of us at this time. To the extent that the Government of the day are responsible for the social and economic environment in which we live, I hope this debate will stimulate the Government into action and warn the Minister that he and his colleagues are playing with a time bomb because of the unacceptable level of unemployment which, of its very nature, is a breeding ground for crime. While I do not and cannot condone crime in any shape or form, it is easy to understand why young people will rebel against a system which denies them their legitimate right to a job. It is easy to understand why people rebel against a system which contributes to widening the gap between those living in affluence and those living in relative poverty.
It is sad that we must talk about the provision of additional prison accommodation in those circumstances. I hold the view that imprisonment is no substitute for our failure to order a fair and just society. There are those in society who show a total disregard for life and property. We have a duty to protect society from those people. The answer to our social problem is not to be found in the provision of additional prison accommodation, but rather in the creation of a social and economic environment where prison accommodation would need to be reduced to the minimum.
This debate does not provide an opportunity to analyse Government policy on social and economic development. If it did, we would find part of the cause of our social unrest deep rooted in this area. The public need to have confidence in the administration of justice. They need to have confidence in this House in the first instance. They need to feel we are capable of legislating and, more important, capable of implementing legislation in the area of law enforcement. They need to feel secure in the knowledge that people apprehended and convicted of serious crime are made to serve their sentences. They need to feel secure in the knowledge that the full implementation of the law is not restricted in any way by the inadequancy of places of retention.
They certainly need to feel secure in the knowledge that the conditions for the discharge of prisoners on parole or on early release are in accordance with recognised, long-established and accepted procedures. It is an established fact that, in the past few years, there were periods when our courts were inhibited from dealing adequately with offenders because of inadequate prison accommodation. The fact that district justices found it necessary to comment was an indication of the frustration of the courts and the people who were expected to administer justice on our behalf.
It is also an established fact that in recent years the Garda were totally disillusioned and frustrated when they found offenders they had apprehended and brought to justice back on the streets after relatively short periods of time. Those who wanted to make a career of crime were given a new lease of life during that period. They knew that if they continued to embark on their escapade of law breaking, there was no place in which they could be detained. I submit that these are areas of concern which have been agitating the public mind for some time.
I will refrain from making unfair accusations against the Minister. This is far too sensitive an area for political point scoring. While he is the person directly responsible to the House for law and order, he is a prisoner in a Cabinet who have refused to face reality in relation to law and order and who are responsible for the seriousness of the present position. It is a well-established fact that, if the prison system in any country is inadequate or insecure, the whole process of law enforcement is undermined and put at risk. I do not think there is anybody in this House who would not admit that there has been a very serious deterioration in that area during the past 12 months.
It is also an established fact that the awareness of inadequate prison accommodation provides a psychological boost for the potential lawbreaker who feels free to break the law in the knowledge that he will not have to serve a prison sentence if convicted or, at worst, will be released long before he has served his full term. Confirmation of my argument, if confirmation be needed, is the very welcome decline in the number of car thefts and incidents of joyriding in recent weeks and months. Apart from the work of the Garda in this area, the most significant factor was the opening of the prison on Spike Island, Fort Mitchel. I should like to pay a well deserved tribute to the Garda Síochána for the very courageous part they played in helping to combat what was for a time a very serious wave of violence in relation to car thefts and joyriding.
The Minister knows that I welcomed and supported his efforts to open Spike Island. I have already said that it was a reactionary measure, a decision which was taken in panic with no advance planning or preparation, as was proved subsequently by the escape of six prisoners and the almost farcial situation in which prisoners were being entrusted with the task of securing their own detention. While I can appreciate that in certain circumstances that kind of rehabilitation would be useful and beneficial, it was a reckless decision in relation to a new prison and was proved to be so.
I should like to put on the record of this House the level of co-operation which the Minister received in this exercise from the prison officers who under difficult conditions for themselves displayed their concern and responsibility. Their willingness to co-operate with the Minister in opening this prison was very much to their credit and should not go unrecognised in this House.
It should be said that the decision posed a serious threat to the ten civilian families residing on Spike Island. While I acknowledge that the Minister eventually took some action, it was some time before gardaí were allocated to the island to protect the families there.
It is not unfair to ask the Minister why he did not make the necessary preparations for the opening of Fort Mitchel two years ago when the Government decided to abandon — the Minister prefers to use the word "postpone"— the phased building programme which he inherited from the previous Government. Whether we use the words "abandoned" or "postponed", the reality is that the shelving of that plan was totally irresponsible, a further example of the kind of monetarist decisions which this Government have been taking, regardless of the consequences for the public. It will prove more costly in the long term. What is the additional cost of this reactionary policy in providing short-term prison accommodation? Time will tell whether my prediction is right that the additional cost of providing short-term prison accommodation will far outweigh the financial merit of the decision to postpone progress on the building of new prison accommodation. I put it to the Minister that it would have been cheaper in the long run to forge ahead two years ago with the planned prison accommodation, particularly at Portlaoise.
The Minister complained during a recent debate about the amount of money spent by Fianna Fáil in planning new prisons, yet he told the House recently that the plans were being revised and redrawn. At what additional cost? Why has he found it necessary to alter the plans prepared three years ago? He might tell the House whether there has been a change in emphasis in future prison development and why the change is taking place. If new prison plans and designs were acceptable three years ago, surely it should not be necessary to have them redrawn now.
I would also ask the Minister to tell the House the time scale for the proposed new prison development programme, particularly in relation to the Portlaoise prison and his plans for the new officers' accommodation there. I have no doubt that he will agree that the decision to transfer prisoners into this modern complex in a highly residential area of Portlaoise town is both undesirable and dangerous and a very unfair imposition on the people of Portlaoise, particularly those in the large number of houses surrounding that area. Perhaps he would tell the House why he has proceeded with this building. Work was commenced only during the past 12 months. It would have been wiser and fairer to the 50 families of prison officers residing in the new estate and to those living in the large number of private houses in the area if the building of this block had been deferred until the new prison was provided. The money so saved should have been put into new accommodation for prisoners within the existing complex.
I have no idea what this new building cost. It is situated in a new housing complex and is a modern purpose built structure for the housing of prison officers following the completion of the proposed new prison. That prison development was postponed and it would have been logical to defer the building of the single officers' accommodation and use the money to provide additional secure accommodation which is urgently needed. That additional accommodation could have been provided within the existing prison complex in Portlaoise. Surely that would have been the sensible thing to do. If the Government seriously looked at the financial aspect of prison security they would have abandoned that part of the development until the new prison complex at Portlaoise was going ahead. I would have preferred to see the money being used to provide new prison accommodation in Portlaoise. I regret that has not happened.
I sympathise with the Minister who is now in the position of having as a matter of urgency to provide short term additional prison accommodation. Some time last December he gave a press conference and indicated that there was no emergency in relation to the provision of prison accommodation. The Minister now has to tear around the country looking for suitable buildings in which to house prisoners. Either the Minister was putting on a good show at the press conference or he was not fully au fait with the position at the time. We know that he will have to get additional prison accommodation. The Government should have acted in relation to building new accommodation within the Portlaoise complex from the money which they would have saved. When one considers how slowly public building contracts proceed the provision of this temporary short term accommodation could turn out to be fairly long term.
The recent statistics indicate a reduction in the level of car thefts and joyriding. That is to be welcomed by all sides of the House. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Garda in their war against this challenging and dangerous form of crime. Many of them put their lives at risk in the performance of their duties. The opening of Spike Island was a major factor in helping to bring this area of crime under control. It proves my point that the decision not to go ahead with the prison building programme was a retrograde one. The present overcrowding in prisons presents a serious threat to the penal system. It will lead to disturbances arising from the tension caused by overcrowding and will make the task of prison officers more difficult. It will present a threat to the security of the prisoners. We will give the Minister our full backing in providing secure short term prison accommodation. I realise he cannot provide new accommodation with the speed which is now required. That is not the fault of anyone on this side of the House. In his efforts to secure such accommodation the Minister should have consultation and discussion with local communities. This is a matter of national security and I would like to be seen to give my full support and backing to the Minister in relation to this area.
I pay tribute to the prison officers. They deserve the recognition and thanks of the House. They do an extremely difficult job on behalf of the nation. I appeal to the Minister to resume normal relations with the association. There is nothing to be gained from the cold war which has existed for some time now between the Minister and members of the association. All of us in the House, the Government, the Garda and prison officers should be united in our efforts to establish the kind of society in which people can live in relative security. We never again want to experience the trauma of last winter when the wave of violence spread from the urban areas into rural areas. Old people living alone in rural areas were under serious threat and in one instance their home was set on fire. Part of the problem arose for the fact that the Garda were beginning to defeat the wave of crime and violence in urban areas and the criminal found it safer to retreat to the rural areas. The Government should rethink their policy in relation to rural policing. I know that the Minister will say no rural Garda stations have been closed but we all know that the level of manning in these stations has been drastically reduced. That is a direct result of the reduction in overtime. It is rather pathetic that when one dials the telephone number of a rural Garda station at certain hours of the day it is not possible to get a response. The provision of the green man, the gadget on the outside wall of the rural station, is no substitute for the local garda in terms of his involvement in the local community and his knowledge of the happenings within that community.
I repeat that there is no substitute for the local garda who is known to the community, is a familiar figure to them and has built up a relationship with them. We live in an age when all kinds of modern communications methods are available but we should not accept these methods of communication as a replacement for the effectiveness of the Garda operating on the ground.
Can the Minister say how soon he will proceed with the postponed prison development programme because we are entitled to know details of any forward planning in relation to the provision of adequate and secure prison accommodation? The Minister should also indicate his views on the rehabilitation of prisoners. Far too often the prison system contributes to the hardening of the criminal regarding his operations when he gets out of prison. There is an urgent need to increase the number of social workers employed by his Department in the counselling and rehabilitation of prisoners when they are released. A prison term is supposed to be a period of correction and present overcrowding must lead to considerable frustration. It does not equip the prisoner for life in the community outside and perhaps the Minister will enlighten us in this regard.
It is also important that the Minister should give some thought to educating young offenders on the futility of pursuing a life of law breaking because that cycle very often repeats itself. We should prevent this from happening through our social and economic policies. Crime and violence are products of the prevailing social and economic conditions and unless we tackle our present problems we will have to make increasing provision for the detention of people who come in conflict with the law. It is extremely important to reverse the trends——
