Adjournment Debate. - Cork City Vandalism and Intimidation. – Dáil Éireann (26th Dáil) – Thursday, 31 Oct 1991

Adjournment Debate. - Cork City Vandalism and Intimidation.

Mr. D. Wallace

Will the Minister outline what steps the Garda propose to take to deal with this very serious problem of vandalism and intimidation being experienced by the residents on the north side of the city?

I have been concerned for some considerable time about the policy of policing in Cork. I should like to refer to a copy of the Evening Echo of Wednesday, 26th June 1985. I expressed concern that the special Garda units operating out of the new headquarters in Mayfield and Gurranabraher were being disbanded. I felt that that was a retrograde step. The areas affected by that move were Gurranabraher, Farranree, Knocknaheeny, Churchfield, The Glen, Mayfield and Fairhill. At that time I also indicated that the new districts would not help the gardaí to carry out their job in an efficient manner.

I will give one example. The district headquarters at Gurranabraher includes the Blarney and Ballincollig Garda stations. If the gardaí in Gurranabraher are unavailable for any reason, then gardaí from Ballincollig are called upon to assist. Ballincollig station is eight miles from Gurranabraher and is on the south-west side of Cork city.

An urgent review of the districts is necessary to give a better service to the community. In my area of Farranree, for instance, three Garda stations cover a portion of the parish — the Watercourse Road, the Mallow Road and Gurranabraher. This is a clear indication of the urgent need for reorganisation of the districts.

A number of incidents have been reported in the press recently and people are very concerned at the increase in vandalism and the lack of Garda presence in the area. Additional gardaí are needed to develop Community Watch and close liaison with the Garda. I strongly urge the Minister to give consideration to the provision of additional gardaí to the Cork area. Many new gardaí were passed out recently but, unfortunately, they appear to be going in one direction, and that is not in the direction of Cork. By a reorganisation of the districts in Cork and the provision of additional manpower, the Minister would go a long way towards allaying the fears and anxieties of the community at large.

I should like the Minister to give me an assurance this evening in relation to community gardaí, Community Watch and community policing. A haphazard approach is being taken in this area, in that gardaí who have been assigned to duties in Mayfield and Gurranabraher in particular have built up a good relationship with the community but then, all of a sudden, if there is a manpower shortage they are put out on ordinary duties. That is a retrograde step which is destroying relationships which the gardaí concerned have built up in that community. I strongly urge the Minister to give me an assurance in the Dáil this afternoon in relation to that matter.

I raise this issue here this afternoon not as a criticism of the Garda, although it is a criticism of the administration. That method can be improved. We are calling for efficiency in health, education and the environment and we must call for efficiency in justice as well.

I look forward to the Minister's reply.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice (Mr. N. Treacy)

We are fully aware of the problems to which Deputy Wallace refers. I have the utmost sympathy with communities who have their everyday lives affected by this type of mindless and costly vandalism, and I thank Deputy Wallace for his consistent representation of this situation.

We are informed by the Garda authorities that vandalism has been a problem in Cork, particularly in the north part of the city. Unfortunately, much of that vandalism has been directed at schools in the area. The divisional Garda officer in Cork has drawn up a strategy to deal specifically with these problems. All members have been directed to be fully alert to the possibility of vandalism at all times; additional patrols have been directed to the worst affected areas, including Mayfield and Gurranabraher, which are being patrolled on a 24-hour basis; vulnerable areas, including schools and shopping centres, are being targeted by the gardaí for specific anti-crime attention. In addition, as part of this strategy, as many gardaí as possible are being deployed on foot patrol. In this respect the community policing scheme, which involves the assignment of individual gardaí to full-time foot patrols, has an important role to play.

Community gardaí act as a link between their colleagues and community groups and have proved to be very successful in dealing with the type of case described by Deputy Wallace. There are nine community gardaí in Cork city and an inspector and a sergeant have recently been given responsibility for the supervision and co-ordination of the activities of the community gardaí in the area. As a result of the measures taken by the gardaí a number of youths have been dealt with under the juvenile liaison scheme and a youth has been dealt with by the courts in relation to damage to a school in Farranree.

A particular aspect of this kind of problem is the involvement of young people who mindlessly destroy property that has been acquired by the hard work of decent people. Their lack of respect and regard for the rights of others is something that must be addressed. While instilling the right attitudes into young people is mainly the responsibility of parents and educationalists, the Garda authorities are very conscious of this problem and recently initiated a special schools' programme. The Garda schools' programme is designed to educate young people to have respect for the property of others. At the moment it is in operation only in selected schools in Dublin and Limerick, but I am glad to say it is proposed to introduce it to Cork as soon as possible. The Garda authorities have also recently reformed the juvenile liaison service, and a national office has been established to oversee its operation countrywide.

Of course, the problem of juvenile crime is not confined to Cork and there is no doubt that the whole legal approach to young offenders needs to be updated. For that reason we intend to introduce next year a juvenile justice Bill to update the law in this respect. In the meantime, the powers conferred on the Minister for Justice under the Children Act, 1908, have been invoked to bring in new rules of court, which will change the regime in regard to the attendance of the parents or guardians of offenders at juvenile hearings.

Of course, community involvement is essential if vandalism is to be tackled effectively. An alert and vigilant community that takes sensible precautions to protect their property and that keeps a watchful eye on the property of neighbours, can help greatly in dealing with this problem. For that reason the gardaí in Cork are actively involved in giving crime prevention advice to the public and in promoting community involvement in crime prevention through Neighbourhood Watch. There are now more than 30 Neighbourhood Watch schemes in Cork city alone.

I should like to assure Deputy Wallace and his colleagues that everything possible is being done to deal with the problem in Cork city to which he refers, that Garda authorities continue to monitor the situation and will take whatever future action may be necessary to tackle the problem.

Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 31 Oct 1991