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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 18 Nov 2003

Vol. 574 No. 4

Private Members' Business. - Criminal Justice System: Motion.

An Leas Cheann Comhairle

Before the debate commences, I wish to make a brief comment. I remind Members that part of the subject matter of the debate relates to matters before the courts. I draw the attention of Members to long-standing rulings of the House, namely that the House is not a court of law and therefore there is an onus on Members to avoid if at all possible referring to persons outside the House in a manner which could be construed as being prejudicial to any subsequent investigations which may be deemed necessary by appropriate authorities. In addition, I remind Members that under Standing Order 56 a matter should not be raised in such an overt manner that it appears to be an attempt by the Oireachtas to encroach on the functions of the courts or a judicial tribunal. When permission to raise the matter has been granted there will continue to be an onus on Members to avoid, if at all possible, comment which might in effect prejudice the outcome of proceedings. I ask Members to bear these points in mind when making their contributions.

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

– deploring the failure of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to deliver on the recruitment of 2,000 additional gardaí as promised before the election and the failure of the Government to make provision in the Book of Estimates for the recruitment of extra gardaí in 2004;

– noting the decision of the Central Criminal Court sitting in Limerick to relocate a murder trial to Dublin due to the difficulties which it experienced in swearing in and retaining a full jury;

– regretting the subsequent collapse of the murder trial in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, and the extent to which it has undermined and subverted the administration of justice in this country;

– noting the comments of Mr. Justice Carney on the collapse of the trial that he had never before encountered ‘the likes of what happened in this case';

– deploring the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reforms failure to maintain confidence and stability in the criminal justice system;

– noting that so far this year, on the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reforms watch, there have been 19 gangland killings and that 40 criminal gangs are operating in Dublin;

– believing that the failure of the Government to properly support the RAPID programme in order to tackle the roots of social disadvantage has exacerbated the crime problem;

– noting the implicit admission of failure in the fight against crime on the part of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in his decision to allocate a mere €2 million extra to the Garda Síochána to fight crime;

– condemns the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Government for failing to recognise the inter-generational shift which has taken place in gangland activity and further condemns the Government for its consistent failure to take definitive action steps to quell their activities; and

– calls on the Government immediately:

– to admit that it has failed to prevent the escalation in gangland activity to such an extent that such gangs have become a threat to the administration of justice,

– to restore public confidence and judicial confidence in the criminal justice system,

– adopt a co-ordinated approach to tackling gangs which exercise an unacceptable level of control in communities throughout the country,

– to commit itself to the enforcement of the existing criminal laws which are already on the Statute Book,

– to publish proposals forthwith setting out how it proposes to afford proper and adequate protection for witnesses and jurors in criminal trials,

– to honour its pre-election promise to recruit 2,000 extra gardaí,

– to fully and adequately resource the Garda in the fight against gangland activity,

– to establish forthwith an organised crime unit that has the capability and specialisation to tackle and extinguish criminal gangs,

– to expand and enhance the emergency response unit,

– to enable such further similar trials to be conducted in the Special Criminal Court.

I fully respect the Chair's statement and I have no intention of straying outside that ruling. I wish to share my time with Deputies Deasy and Stanton.

The administration of justice is integral to any democracy and the rule of law and order is sacrosanct. When the administration of justice fails, it ruins public trust, shatters public confidence. When it fails to defend the citizen, to protect society, the Government loses control of the State. It forfeits its legitimacy to govern. This is what has happened in Ireland today.

This Government was elected on a false premise, a false promise: way less crime, more gardaí – 2,000 to be precise. Its programme for Government stated, "We stand for a society where all people can feel safe in their communities, businesses and homes." It made 28 specific commitments in legislation, the Judiciary, policing, narcotics and enforcement. Now 28 specific commitments later there is not a single additional garda on our streets; organised crime is of a new and worse order; there is wholesale trafficking of women for the sex trade; cocaine is freely available in every town and city; 100,000 E tablets are dropped in this country every week; new-generation hallucinogens such as DOB inducing horrific self-mutilation are available; 40 gangs are carving up the capital between them; 19 gangland executions occurred this year alone, one of them for no reason other than to send a message. There were 19 gangland executions but only four State charges.

The reality is that today, €5,000 will buy a plasma-screen television; a five-year-old Fiat Brava or a professional hit on a citizen of your choice. Gangsters, having asserted their legal rights, can literally give the finger to the rule of law, to democracy, to every decent thing that makes up our society. This is war and look who is winning. Now who feels safe in their in their communities, their businesses, their homes?

Two weeks ago, reality TV took a new twist. On primetime viewing we were treated to a drug dealer outlining his fail-safe, get-rich-quick plan to his should-be captive audience. What was his advice? For every thousand euro they "invest", they should make back two thousand, with the rider that any "investment" deal should include, "a bit of coke for yourself, ‘cos man, you too need to party". Thanks to this Government, we have a two-bit hood sounding like someone from the IDA, outlining a capital investment scheme, only in the underworld the profit is 100%

What do the Ministers of this Government, who stand collectively in name as a Cabinet for a safe society, propose to do? How do they plan to fix it? Specifically, how do they intend to take out these gangs? What is the status of the Government's intelligence on the former paramilitary organisations who are now supplying the weaponry and firepower to these gangs? Can the Minister tell the House that these persons are more or equally dangerous than they were in their previous incarnation with the provisional IRA or other? What and how many personnel will be dedicated to rooting out these organised criminals? The only way of ridding society of these criminal gangs is by knowing their haunts and runs, knowing who are their associates, by constant surveillance and contact and by fingering and hindering their associates. That requires manpower and resources. One need only talk to any member of the Garda and its special units to learn that at least five persons are required to mount surveillance on a suspect.

I listened to the Garda Commissioner when he appeared before the Oireachtas all-party committee. It is very difficult for the senior police officer in the State to come before any committee because if he is asked questions he is quite likely to stray into what might be perceived to be the political arena. When he states that he does not have sufficient resources—

He did not say that.

When he said that the Garda Síochána was not resourced sufficiently to do the job—

He did not say that either.

I say to the Minister that in the Estimates for this year, overtime was cut by 40% and travel and subsistence by 60%. What superintendent in any district could effectively police his district with that kind of savage cutback in force? It is not possible. The citizens demand to see the gardaí on the streets. They want to know they are available and they like to see them. They want that comfort. There are people who will go to bed tonight terrorised, not just in city communities but throughout the length and breadth of the land. The previous Garda Commissioner set up a number of specialist units which recruited the best and the brightest from the force but they were never replaced. The Minister says that there are difficulties and that he will extend the age of retirement. The problem exists in the 51 to 52 year old age bracket because those gardaí are retiring, taking their pensions, doing other jobs and not being replaced. While Templemore is full – it is stretched to the limit – the Minister will never see anything like the 2,000 extra gardaí he promised unless spectacular arrangements for training are put in place.

I do not have the level of information available to the Minister, but the evidence I have is that the people supplying the fire power to these gangs were previously members of paramilitary organisations. If the Minister lives up to the reputation he had when he entered this House as a Member of the Government, if he takes the gangs off the streets, Fine Gael will support him. We will support measures the Government takes to eliminate these gangs and provide people and businesses with the sense of security and comfort that only the Garda Síochána can offer. Unfortunately, in a variety of ways, the Minister has run against the Garda Síochána in the past year, although I do not doubt his integrity in wanting to make root and branch change to the structure of the Garda Síochána to ensure the most effective results for taxpayers' money.

This is the most dangerous period for our democracy since the murder of Veronica Guerin. At that time, the rainbow Government responded with a clear, concise strategy and put resources in place for it, and that paid off. The CAB was set up and gangs like that of Gilligan were put out of business. They have now been replaced, however, with younger and more vicious gangs and the Minister must take political responsibility for the administration of justice. He is not entirely responsible because investing in ghettos leads to criminality and investing in urban sprawl leads to deviancy and vandalism. It is only by investing in people that there will be real results. The Minister's colleagues who are absent this evening do not appear to understand that the society we are breeding now will require constant injections of resources and manpower to tame these elements.

This party will support the Government in making changes and providing resources to remove these gangs from the streets. We do not want knee-jerk reactions, such as the law that deals with non-alcoholic discos for teenagers that take place in licensed premises. Gardaí must implement this law and are putting teenagers on to the street because they have no choice. The Minister must spell out his solution to this problem. Yesterday I was told by two garda superintendents that they have no option but to enter licensed premises where a teenage disco is taking place, even though there is no alcohol on sale, and to put those teenagers on to the street. That is not good and the Minister must deal with this situation.

Studies show that at 22 months, a bright child from a poor background does vastly better than a slow child from a better off background. By three years of age they are level and by six years a slow baby from a rich home will score far more than a bright baby from a poor home. The society in which we live is not all down to the Minister, there are other areas where politics can impact on the creation of opportunity, advantage and equality for all, but this is happening on the Minister's watch. I do not understand how the Government can say the Minister will live up to his responsibilities while it cut back resources by 40% to 60% last year.

Deputy Deasy has raised the issue of cases being heard before the Special Criminal Court. Obviously no change in the law will act as a substitute for maintaining an effective system of justice and law and order but the Special Criminal Court is capable of trying crimes which are not subversive on the production of a certificate from the DPP. The Minister mentioned the Canadian system where evidence can be given beforehand that a witness might not want to corroborate subsequently. There is a difference between the intimidation of juries and of witnesses but this is an area the Minister should examine and if these cases cannot be tried for any reason, the option exists to use the Special Criminal Court.

I was interested in the Minister's definition of gangs, for which he made a plausible case. I feel, however, that he will get the support of the House if he puts extra resources into cleaning up our streets, going after the drug barons who cause these problems and puts forward proposals to regenerate our society and give everyone a chance.

I will bring the House back to the AGSI conference in April, which the Minister attended, particularly to the prophetic comments of Mr. Joe Dirwan, then president of the association. Mr. Dirwan said that organised criminal gangs have grown as arrogant as they were in the years before the murder of Veronica Guerin. He stated that almost weekly incidents of gangland murder were particularly worrying and that such is the climate of fear, it is impossible to get witnesses to come forward to give evidence that would secure the convictions of perpetrators. He called for a targeted and properly resourced response within the force to go after the organised gangs before the danger became so great that they are once again a major threat to society.

I went through the statements made by gardaí in the past year and a similar theme runs through them. This is a typical plea on the part of gardaí and their representatives who were fearful of what would happen if these criminal gangs were not leashed. The Garda Commissioner talks about the growing drugs culture of the country and Opposition spokespeople such as Deputy Costello have been talking about gangland killings for a year. I have lost count of the number of times I have raised the issue of an organised crime unit but the Minister will not take it on board . While he was making speeches about winning the war on crime, the people who were fighting that war were trying to tell him what was going wrong and what was needed, but the Minister ignored them. They continued to fight without success as a result.

The Minister's attitude to this can be best summed up by the comments he made at the photo opportunity with former Garda Commissioner Byrne and a horse at the Garda sports centre in Westmanstown. In a "their day will come" speech, the Minister vowed that everyone involved in gangland murders would be tracked down and brought to justice. So far this year there have been 19 murders but in only three cases are charges pending. There are ongoing investigations but no one believes the promise the Minister made that day.

The Minister said he was happy with the Garda performance in tackling organised crime and that he did not believe a lack of resources was an issue in the apparent increase in gang crime. This was after gardaí had been telling him the exact opposite for a number of months. The Minister was wrong and it was a serious error of judgment on his part. When the situation got worse, what was the Minister's reaction? He threw €2 million that was found down the back of the couch at the gardaí after saying for so long that money was not the issue. The Minister had not listened to the people who mattered.

The Government's response to the doubling of the number of gangland killings, the doubling of gun homicides and the quadrupling of drugs seizures is interesting. The gangs involved stepped up a gear while the Minister was not looking. It was only when those accused of the murder of Kieran Keane went on trial and the trial collapsed that it started to take notice. I knew some people who were in that courtroom, who had been to hundreds of jury trials, who said they had never seen fear or terror like it when a person found out he or she might be a juror in the case. The Liam Keane trial then collapsed because the witnesses would not corroborate their written statements. The reaction of the Government was to say that this is a serious situation but that the Opposition spokespersons were overreacting, that theirs was exaggerated outrage and a knee-jerk reaction. However, the Minister became much quieter when it was found that someone had placed a device under Paul Williams's car. He then had an open mind about the situation.

What the Minister has been trying to do throughout this is maintain a facade of authority and control when in fact he does not know what to do. He has never known what to do because he has not listened to the people dealing with the situation. That is the issue. This is all about the Minister maintaining control within his Department and maintaining that facade at all costs. He is trying to maintain the notion that he knows what is going on but he does not. When the pressure has come on, he has prevaricated and dithered. His defence mechanism has been to insult anyone who has a different point of view to his.

When drug dealers kill other drug dealers, which they have been doing with great regularity for the past three or four years, there is no public outcry and, as a result, there is not much of a political reaction. Who cares that another 20 year old drug dealer in Finglas killed another one? This has gone on for a long time without the appropriate response from the Government.

The difficulty for the Minister is that the mask came down on a few occasions. For example, when the Garda Representative Association suggested making it an offence to be a member of a gang, something my party leader mentioned earlier, the Minister dismissed it out of hand, even though it has worked effectively in other jurisdictions. The GRA knew that but the Minister did not.

In July, at the event in Westmanstown, the Minister said that the greatest problem in dealing with these gangs was the wall of silence but he dismissed the GRA's idea out of hand. The GRA gave the Minister the solution but he was not interested. He was in control and that was that. As far as this issue is concerned, the Minister has used every opportunity to dismiss suggestions that legislation could be introduced to make it an offence to be a member of a gang. I do not believe he has bothered to objectively consider this proposal any further.

I sometimes get the impression that ideas that emanate from the Minister are automatically brilliant but those which come from other sources are suspect. On the one hand he talks about all-party support on this issue, which we are willing to give, but on the other he rubbishes proposals from this side of the House without giving a credible explanation. The Minister has lost credibility in the House as a result.

As far as the gang membership issue is concerned, the Minister is very fond of Canada because it is a place in which he has found precedence to his satisfaction. Legislation making it an offence to be a member of a gang appears to function quite well in Canada. Section 467 of the Canadian criminal code makes it an offence to be a member of a gang and provides a plausible definition and offence provision. The Minister should also examine what is being done in Austria and Spain before he dismisses what the GRA had to say.

P. J. Stone supported my call for these trials to be held in the Special Criminal Court. The Minister called his comments ignorant and silly. P. J. Stone represents the front line of the Garda Síochána. He is the person who represents the gardaí who put their lives on the line, yet the Minister called his comments ignorant and silly. That is where the Minister made his greatest mistake, and I will explain that.

The Minister went to Templemore last month realising that the comments he made about gardaí taking money from journalists hurt and that he had made a huge mistake as far as the Garda Síochána was concerned. Incidentally, I read reports over the weekend from retired gardaí which stated that morale in the force has never been lower. I believe that, if they were asked who has made that happen, they would say it is the Minister.

In Templemore the Minister made a fine speech about standards in the Garda Síochána. He said that there may be people who denigrate the Garda Síochána from outside but that the greatest critics of the force should always be from within. He said we should ignore those cynical and tired voices who claimed high standards of professionalism could not be upheld in the real world. The problem is that the Minister had already dug his hole. The damage had been done.

The Minister has done more to question the professionalism of the Garda Síochána in the past 18 months than anyone else. His legacy so far this year is approximately 700 retirements from the Garda Síochána. About 1,000 gardaí have qualified this year to do the pre-retirement course. So many gardaí have qualified this year for the course that there is a waiting list. That is the Minister's legacy. The problem is that he, not his policies, have become the issue. He has made the gravest error, politically speaking by allowing himself to become the issue. He cannot do that in his position. It is the most destructive thing he could have done, and he did it.

This debate has degenerated into rants against anyone who challenges or questions the Minister's authority or his ego. What does that mean? It means that the chances of meaningful Garda reform are not good while the Minister is in office. That is the initiative he has always said is the most important to him while he is Minister. That is his goal, but it will not happen because gardaí are sick listening to him. There are serious problems within the Garda Síochána. The members of the force know that, but what they did not need was the Minister shoving it down their throats over the past 18 months. They will not forget it.

The Minister's reaction to these events epitomises his tenure in office. He has presided over the most under-resourced and overstretched criminal justice system the country has ever had. His sole response appears to be that Garda numbers will soon be at their highest, but to say that is to ignore the fact that the courts system is creaking, with delays of 12 months being commonplace. Jurors cannot be empanelled because they are in fear of their lives. Juvenile criminals go on crime sprees because no places of detention are available for them. The Garda Síochána has been denied real additional resources in this year's Estimates. Serious crime has dramatically increased and the non-reporting of crime is endemic. The Minister may shake his head but he should look at the rape figures issued today in Dublin.

I inquired two weeks ago about section 5 of the Criminal Justice Act 1999. This was the much publicised ten year mandatory sentence for the possession of drugs with a value of more than £10,000 or €12,000. I was interested to read in the response that the number convicted under the Act so far is 276 but that the number who received the ten year sentence was 12. Around the same time as this was reported in the newspapers, the North-Western Health Board issued the statistic that ten year old children were pooling their money to buy drugs instead of food.

This is how bad the situation has become. There is little deterrent for people dealing in drugs. If a person deals in drugs, it is difficult to jail him or her under this Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government. I know that because I see it happening in my home town. I have said on a number of occasions in the House that we should begin with what the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors called for in April, namely, a three months minimum sentence for someone dealing in drugs. The Minister referred to this some weeks ago. He should send a signal to the people who are willing to do this that there are deterrents.

I asked another question last week about the number of convictions under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, which has been in force for four months and is supposed to be the panacea for street crime. The official response I got was that the Minister does not have any official responsibility to Dáil Éireann for these matters. That is amazing. The Minister did not want me to get that answer. I would not be surprised if there were not any convictions under some of the sections. Why can the Minister not answer the question?

The question was disallowed.

I know and I wonder why. That is my point.

Perhaps the Deputy could tell the truth.

I could ask a question about the Criminal Justice Act 1999, but I will not get an answer. The same picture emerges for the sections of the recently introduced Intoxicating Liquor Act.

The Minister cannot legislate his way out of the problems of crime. Some 40 pieces of criminal law have been passed in recent years. More energy has been expended on the construction of new Acts than on the reform of policing methods. However, people are fast losing their faith in the criminal justice system and criminals are taking advantage of that. Legislation is not the only answer to smashing these gangs. We need more gardaí and a better resourced force. We also need a root and branch reform of the Garda Síochána, starting with an effective complaints inspectorate. For too long the Minister has denied the gardaí the proper resources to do their job. More importantly, he has jeopardised proper Garda reform by needlessly alienating the people who fight crime in our streets. The Minister came to the job with some great ideas, but that is all they are. It is fine to draft Bills and to announce plans, but the people feel less safe today than they did when the Minister took office.

I am pleased to support the motion, but I am concerned that we had to table it in the first place. We are dealing with serious matters of life and death. It is common to hear on the radio in the mornings about a person being shot or someone being murdered. People are becoming immune to it. We need action and we need the Minister to instil confidence. Unfortunately, however, the Minister is not doing that.

The Minister said he will jail gardaí if they talk to journalists. That is a stupid thing for him to say. How will that encourage gardaí or boost their morale? Last week the Minister said he will close prisons. We have a crime epidemic, but he wants to close prisons. He chose for closure Fort Mitchell on Spike Island in Cork, a prison which is the least expensive to run, is drug-free and deals with young people. He wants to close prisons at a time when we need more prison places. He said he will privatise the Irish Prison Service, although a report commissioned by his Department states that it would be wrong to do that.

The Government has a philosophical problem. We passed the Youth Work Act a number of years ago. However, money has not been provided for it. This is not the Minister's sole responsibility, but as a member of Cabinet he should be aware of the problems. If we do not have a proper youth service, young people will get involved in street crime.

Deputy Deasy is correct that the country is awash with drugs. There is no mechanism to steer young people who are at risk away from drugs. Crime is becoming a big problem as a result. If the Minister can give a positive response tonight by outlining what he intends to do to address this problem, we in Fine Gael, as Deputy Kenny said, will support him.

Many Garda stations are closed at night throughout the country, which sends the wrong signal to people involved in criminal activity. Garda presence on our streets is non-existent. There were gardaí on the streets in the past. The police are visible at night on the streets in other countries. Their presence acts as a deterrent, but that is not the case in this country because we do not have enough gardaí. The Minister and the Government reneged on their promise to provide extra gardaí, yet they knew the need existed. Perhaps the Minister will tell us why we still do not have extra gardaí on the streets almost 18 months later. It seems there will be fewer gardaí on the streets as a result of resignations and early retirements due to low morale. The Minister must take serious action to boost morale in the Irish Prison Service and among gardaí.

The Minister must work with everyone in the House. When the first motion on crime was tabled in this House, the Minister derided Deputy Deasy. I was in the Chair that night and I could not believe the horrible and arrogant way in which he did it. It is time for the Minister to get off his high horse and to look at what is happening. It is also worth noting that there is not one Government Deputy here to support the Minister. Even the members of his party are not here tonight.

We are beginning to see a situation where people who are asked to act as jurors are being intimidated. That is extraordinarily serious. These people fear for their lives. The Minister is laughing. However, I do not see anything to laugh about. These are life and death issues. It is an attack on the State. Unless the Minister acts, the gangs will increase and they will get more violent and vicious. The Minister must put more gardaí on the streets and give them the resources and the authority to act. We should not send out a wrong signal by closing prisons and causing rows, which could lead to gardaí being taken off the streets to man the prisons. That is not the way to operate. The Minister should meet the people and listen to what they are saying, as Deputy Deasy requested. The Minister may think he has all the answers, but he does not.

A number of years ago a school principal told me he could identify young people at four or five years of age who would end up in jail. Other people say they can identify them earlier. We must start intervening earlier in the communities. We are building sprawling housing estates, but we are not providing resources or a youth service. Social workers and probation people are stretched to the limit. A total Government response is needed to deal with this issue.

I said earlier that the country is awash with drugs. We all know about the large quantity of drugs seized by the gardaí, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. I know from talking to people that the supply of drugs is almost endless and they are getting cheaper. We must put measures in places to divert young people away from crime and drugs. We must tackle the gangs to stop them from increasing in number, getting stronger and taking on the State. The Minister must start to build up the morale of the gardaí, the prison officers and the Irish Prison Service. I hope the Minister will come forward with a positive response, unlike the last time he addressed us on an issue such as this.

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"– acknowledges the challenges presented by the recent collapse of a trial in the Central Criminal Court;

– confirms that the fundamentals of our criminal justice system are sound and endorses the efforts of the Minister and the Garda Síochána in meeting the challenges posed by the current situation;

– endorses the measured and effective response of the Minister as outlined to the House on 4 November last and notes that he has initiated a review of the adequacy of legislative provisions with a view to identifying any additional measures deemed appropriate, including examining Canadian law in relation to the admissibility of recanted statements with a view to the introduction of appropriate legislation in this jurisdiction;

– welcomes the initiative taken by the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights in offering its assistance in reviewing the criminal justice system in order to establish whether any legal changes are necessary;

– commends the concerted efforts of the Minister and the Garda Síochána to deal with so-called gang crime in areas of Limerick and Dublin and the additional €2 million, representing an additional 55,000 hours in Garda overtime, recently made available to the Garda for the remainder of 2003 to target crime;

– acknowledges that the deployment of Garda resources is a matter for the Garda Commissioner based on his professional assessment of the operational requirements;

– condemns the savage violence of the criminal gangs and expresses its sympathy to the families of those people who have lost their lives and those injured;

– endorses the Minister's condemnation of the despicable actions of those criminals who placed a hoax bomb under the car of a journalist last week and congratulates the gardaí on their prompt action in discovering the crime;

– notes the significant increases achieved in last week's Estimates, including an increase of over €91 million, or 9.5% overall, and 13.5% in Garda overtime, for the Garda Vote, bringing the total allocation to the Garda Síochána to more than €1 billion for the first time, which represents an increase of over 81% on the €580 million allocated in 1997;

– acknowledges that Garda numbers are currently at their highest ever level of 11,900 and notes the Government's commitment to prioritise the recruitment necessary to bring the force to its authorised strength of 12,200;

– commends the Government's National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008: Building on Experience, which brings together all elements of drugs policy in a single comprehensive and cohesive framework;

– recognises the Government's allocation of significant resources towards the drugs initiative to date, with over €62 million having already been provided to implement projects established via the local drugs task forces with a further €68 million also having been allocated to date in supporting over 350 facility and service projects;

– recognises the Government's ongoing and sustained commitment to addressing the drugs problem as a matter of priority with a significant increase of 5% in the moneys available for drugs and young people's facilities and services fund in 2004 from €32 million to €33.5 million and the establishment of the regional drug task forces in the health board areas earlier this year;

– commends the continuing success of the Garda Síochána and the Customs Service in seizing large volumes of illicit drugs, particularly heroin and cocaine, thereby reducing access to those drugs which cause the most harm;

– acknowledges the continued success of the Criminal Assets Bureau in responding to serious and organised crime by targeting and seizing the profits of such crime, with the bureau in 2002 obtaining interim orders to the value of more than €34 million and interlocutory orders ("final" restraint orders) to the value of over €10 million;

– commends the Government's record in continuing to strengthen the criminal law over the past six years through unprecedented legislative reform;

– supports the Minister's comprehensive legislative programme aimed at, inter alia, strengthening the powers of the Garda Síochána through a new Criminal Justice Bill, and providing a modern legislative framework for the Garda Síochána through a new Garda Síochána Bill;

– commends the Government for its continued commitment to the implementation of the RAPID programme; and

– restates the determination of the House that no one shall be beyond the reach of the law."

Our first duty in an adversarial Chamber is to remember the old saying that in war truth is the first casualty. We are talking tonight about serious and weighty matters that go to the heart of our democratic system. Nothing is more serious for any society than the way in which the criminal justice system functions. On a subject such as this we should put aside propaganda and wishful thinking and face the facts in a spirit of truthfulness.

The front line force in our fight against crime is our national police force, the Garda Síochána. We have a duty to give the Garda the members, the resources and the support, both moral and political, which it requires to carry out that task. Members have spoken about the morale of the Garda. It is a matter of record that the Garda has for the last 18 months been under a constant bombardment of morale-sapping criticism from the Opposition parties in this House. All too many of its achievements have been doubted, sneered at and denigrated by a constant stream of Opposition criticism. Day in, day out we are fed with statements which attack its record in crime prevention, which in the last year has shown positive results.

The Minister has the wrong speech.

Every improvement in crime figures has been met with a chorus of derision. The credibility of the figures is questioned when they are good. The crime figures compiled by the Garda are only to be believed, apparently, when they are bad. Opposition spokesmen pretend concern and admiration for the force while they and their colleagues daily kick away at public support for it. The record of their parties in Government is truly pitiful when examined. The gulf between what they did and what they said they would do is immense.

The Minister should look at his own record.

Truth is the first casualty – was that the Minister's first line?

Week in, week out Opposition Members accuse members of the Garda of impropriety and misbehaviour. There is never a week without some new accusation made against the force. Parliamentary questions are regularly tabled about the level of compensation claims against and by gardaí, public order incidents and every possible circumstance that could embarrass or reflect badly on the Garda. Nearly every incident is exaggerated or distorted in an unrelenting campaign to create the impression that the Garda Síochána is failing in its task and is losing the battle against crime. That constant barrage of negativity comes from the Opposition in this House, not from the Government. All of this is done in the hope that by damaging and discounting the Garda, there will be damage and embarrassment for the Government.

The message has been conveyed that the Garda Síochána is losing the fight against organised crime and that criminal gangs are gaining in strength and influence. I roundly reject that assertion and I deeply regret the inevitable effect of such assertions on Garda morale. On the contrary, I believe that the Garda Síochána is gaining the upper hand in that fight, which it is fighting on behalf of all of us. I am not being complacent. Recent events, especially the outcome of a recent trial in the Central Criminal Court, have quite rightly generated much public debate and concern. In participating in that debate as public representatives, we should all be aware that we are constrained in what we can say in light of the fact that proceedings are ongoing. Those events have presented us with a challenge, but it is no greater challenge than many that the Garda and the State have met and faced down in the past. This House has met and dealt with far graver challenges to public order, the rule of law and the authority of the State.

Nobody should doubt the determination of the Government and me as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Garda Commissioner and the entire force to tackle and to put down what is on the face of it a crude subculture of criminality among a small number of young men who are foolish enough to believe that they can take life with impunity and evade the consequences. Let nobody in Limerick, Dublin or elsewhere doubt our resolution that they will be brought to justice and made to pay the price for the cruelty and ferocity of their crimes against the community. There is no question of the State or the Garda Síochána lying down in the face of such crude and cruel criminality, nor should anyone in this House imagine for one moment that the outcome of this struggle in the battle against criminality is in doubt.

Our response must be resolute, proportionate and focused. We have a State and a Constitution adopted by the people. We have a system of criminal justice which strives to strike a balance between convicting and punishing wrongdoers and protecting personal liberties and fundamental rights. The basic structure of our criminal justice system is fundamentally sound. However, we cannot be complacent. Just as the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, the cost of containing crime in any civilised constitutional democracy is constant adaptation of our policing, laws and systems to match the ever-changing face of crime. We must continually keep that system under review and adapt it in the light of changing circumstances and emerging challenges. That is what I am doing. I have already told the House that I intend to review the adequacy of legislative provisions, resource allocations and administrative practice to see whether changes are required and to consult with all the appropriate persons and organisations involved in the criminal justice system.

I welcome the decision of the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, chaired by Deputy Ardagh, to conduct a legislative and administrative review of the system, especially the issue of witness protection, and to invite submissions from interested organisations and individuals with constructive proposals to make. I will participate in that committee and I hope Deputy Kenny will finally appoint Deputy Deasy as a full member so that he can participate fully in the proceedings. It is about time they settled their little tiff.

On a point of order—

There will be no points of order.

For the Minister's information, the problem is that there are not enough Members to serve on all the committees to which they may be appointed.

Acting Chairman

Fan go fóill.

That committee deals with three or four issues.

We thank the Minister for his concern.

I hear the Deputy. He has made his point. The truth is—

It deals with three or four issues and at this point we do not have sufficient numbers to accommodate that. If the Minister is going to make a statement—

Acting Chairman

Deputy Kenny, please.

I will not take this from the Minister. If he makes a statement I can make one. His opening comment was that truth was the first casualty of war.

Acting Chairman

I asked the Minister not to interrupt you when you were speaking and I ask the same of you.

I appreciate that, but I will not take this from the Minister. He is a spectacular failure as it is and he is continuing that way.

It is an extraordinary thing that the largest Opposition party in the House has decided—

If the Minister dealt with the issues we are discussing it would be far better.

—not to put its justice spokesman on the justice committee of the House. I do not know why, but I believe it is to do with a tiff between the pair of them and I ask them to reverse this decision.

The Minister should keep his smart-ass comments for the Law Library.

It is my policy as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and the policy of this Government, to prioritise Garda recruitment and training in accordance in order to bring the force up to its maximum authorised strength of 12,200 as soon as possible—

Deputy Deasy and I do not disagree on matters of policy.

—making maximum use of the existing capacity of the Garda Training College at Templemore. Some 690 Garda trainees have been taken into the Garda college in the course of this year. A new Garda recruitment competition is under way. The Commissioner has projected, based on the expected rate of retirement, that the maximum authorised force strength of 12,200 will be achieved during 2004. These extra gardaí will be assigned to the areas of greatest need.

As I have already informed this House, I will not be content with raising the strength of the Garda Síochána to an historic high of 12,200 by the end of 2004. As soon as budgetary circumstances permit, I am confident this Government can make progress towards the target of 14,000 provided in the programme for Government.

That is not what the Government said before the election.

I find Opposition criticism on this matter particularly hollow. As I recently informed this House, Garda strength declined from 10,882 on 31 December 1993 to 10,827 on 31 December 1994, 10,816 on 31 December 1995 and 10,804 on 31 December 1996.

The Minister is badly stuck.

That is what the Opposition parties did when they had their chance.

The Minister should tell us about the 40 gangs—

In the last general election Fine Gael and the Labour Party set out their programmes for the Garda Síochána and the criminal justice system. I have brought the text of these programmes to the House this evening because the last time this matter arose I was contradicted when I said that neither party had made any commitment in the matter of Garda numbers. I have carefully checked both programmes and neither of them makes any commitment to any increase in the strength of the Garda Síochána whatsoever, although the Fine Gael Party said it would establish a special commission to look at the strength of the Garda without any commitment on its outcome.

That was the Minister's commitment.

By contrast to the pitiful record of my critics, I have also undertaken a radical reform of the force itself and in the coming weeks will publish a new legislative basis for the Garda Síochána, its first major reform in 80 years. Deputy Deasy was sceptical as to whether I would implement that reform. I will implement the reform and the Deputy will have to put on his safety belt and wait.

The Minister made the announcement more than a year ago.

Hand in hand with that fundamental reform of the structures, accountability and strategic management of the Garda Síochána, in the new year I will publish a new criminal justice Bill that will modernise and strengthen the investigative and evidential powers of our police force. This is being done in accordance with Garda management, whose views on law reform I take seriously and always try to give effect to.

While I am disappointed, I am not surprised to see described as a "mere €2 million" the extra resourcing which will provide up to 55,000 additional hours of overtime between now and the year's end for those elements in the Garda Síochána that are targeting criminal gangs. The bulk of these additional resources will be targeted at the southern and Dublin metropolitan regions and for support units, including the emergency response unit. That such additional funds are being made available to the Garda to meet such obvious needs is the opposite of failure. The availability of funds arises from prudent management of expenditure across the Votes for which I have responsibility. I am fulfilling my commitment to make available to the commissioner sufficient resources to meet the operational needs of the Garda.

I am particularly pleased to have secured a €91 million increase in the Garda Vote for 2004 over the 2003 Estimate of €954 million. This represents a 9.5% increase in the Garda Vote for 2004. Having reached the target €1.054 billion, the Garda budget is now at a historic high. The resources secured by me for the Garda Síochána are an increase of 75% over the figure allocated by Fine Gael and Labour for the force in 1997.

That is six years ago.

No doubt it is a 200% increase on 1947.

In real terms, that represents a massive increase in funding. The rate of increase for next year demonstrates that I have focused strongly on bringing substantial additional resources into the fight against crime.

The budget for Garda salaries, wages and allowances includes an increase in overtime provision of almost €7 million, an increase of 13.3%, from €51.516 million to €58.359 million.

It is down 40% on last year.

The 40% is a figment of the Deputy's imagination.

The 2,000 extra gardaí were a figment of the Minister's imagination.

In addition to this, €7.5 million for Garda overtime has been provided to take account of the increased workload associated with hosting the EU Presidency in 2004. I have ensured through this allocation that normal policing resources would not be diverted during the six month Presidency period. I have also agreed with the commissioner that overtime resources would continue to be deployed in targeted operations against criminal activity that give rise to most concern in our communities.

It has been suggested that the Garda Síochána needs an organised crime unit. I have carefully considered such a proposal and have discussed it on a number of occasions with the Commissioner. Recent years have seen the establishment of a wide range of specialist Garda units, such as the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Criminal Assets Bureau, the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation and the Garda national drug unit. The co-ordinated deployment of these units has enabled the Garda Síochána to tackle organised crime, as well as other crime, more effectively. Other smaller units, including the money laundering investigation unit and a unit dealing with theft of computer components, have also had success in combating the activities of organised criminals.

If there were a case for one organised crime unit to be established, I would support it wholeheartedly. I spoke to the commissioner on this matter today and he is absolutely satisfied that the existing arrangement of specialised units is more appropriate and more effective. I agree with the commissioner's professional judgment which is based on experience and detailed knowledge of the organisational requirements of the force. I attach more weight to his view on this matter than I do to that of others.

There have never been more resources available to the commissioner in the fight against crime. The number of gardaí has increased to an all-time high. Funding for the Garda Síochána in 2004 has passed the €1 billion mark. The commissioner has tremendous resources at his disposal in terms of a well trained and highly motivated force, specialised units, infrastructural assets and technical assistance etc. to assist in responding to the challenges of this fight. What the gardaí need now is public support in their battle against crime.

They cannot get the TETRA system. Their radio communications can be scanned.

What the Garda does not now need is a prolongation of ill-informed and ill-judged commentary which snipes at its achievements, doubts its capacity, discounts its resourcing and deflects public concern into a futile exercise in political point scoring and partisanship.

To whom is the Minister's comment directed?

If the Deputy listened he might learn something.

The Minister has done this himself.

Acting Chairman

Allow the Minister to continue without interruption.

It was the Minister who made the bribery allegations.

Acting Chairman

While I have allowed them to a certain extent, there have been too many interruptions.

The Minister is telling lies.

Acting Chairman

Deputies should stop interrupting to the extent they are doing so.

Under existing law the Director of Public Prosecutions is vested with the function of independently deciding whether in any particular case prosecution for serious crime should be brought in the Special Criminal Court, a non-jury court. He may only do so when he comes to the view that the ordinary courts are inadequate for the administration of criminal justice. He may not exercise this choice on improper grounds, such as the willingness of witnesses to renege on their evidence or some notion that the prospects of conviction would be enhanced by such a move. Everyone in Ireland has the right to jury trial as long as a jury can be reasonably expected to come to a fair verdict on his or her case free from outside interference.

There is no need for me to strengthen the director's power of referral of cases to the Special Criminal Court. The rules of evidence in the Special Criminal Court are exactly the same as in other courts and judges' decisions as to admissibility of evidence are made on exactly the same criteria.

It has been suggested that the evidence of a chief superintendent that a person is a member of a gang, however that could be defined – I know some countries have made an attempt to do so – should be admissible to prove its contents and that persons should be liable to be convicted of gang membership. This has never been tried in any of the countries referred to by Deputy Deasy. As I understand it, this suggestion seems to be based on some loose analogy with the provisions of the Offences against the State (Amendment) Act of 1972 that deal with proscribed organisations.

If membership of a gang were to be made an offence, it would be still necessary to show that the ordinary courts were inadequate before any such case could be tried in the Special Criminal Court. Any other law would be unconstitutional. If an individual were to be indicted for membership of a gang of say six or eight persons, it seems it would be necessary to arrest, charge and put on trial all the other alleged members of the gang. I do not believe that a law that provided for the mass prosecution of a gang on the word of a chief superintendent would survive constitutional scrutiny or would be acceptable to public opinion. The analogy with proscribed organisations is a false one.

I did not say that.

In any event, I have huge faith in the jury system as a cornerstone of our criminal justice system. I believe the jury trial is one of our basic civil liberties and not some inconvenient historical leftover.

If a jury can be found.

I believe that reliance on a jury trial and on the proof of cases beyond reasonable doubt by evidence capable of being challenged is one of the chief guarantors against oppressive misuse of State authority and one of the chief foundations of public confidence in our criminal justice system.

There are many areas in our criminal justice system that can be improved, not least delay between the arrest and charging of a person with a serious offence and his or her subsequent trial. Such delay inevitably prejudices the due process of law and public confidence in the criminal justice system. Delays can occur equally in jury and non-jury courts and I intend to confer with the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Courts Service and the Garda Síochána so that delays that are prejudicial to the public interest can be minimised. I will bring these and other issues and proposals to the all-party justice committee hearing in the coming weeks.

I state emphatically and categorically that recent events are no basis for hasty and ill-considered measures that would, if implemented, erode the integrity of and public confidence in our criminal justice system. Nothing would be easier than for a Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Taoiseach or Government to announce such ill-judged proposals as Government policy in the wake of some event or controversy that excited public interest and concern in relation to the criminal justice system. I note from investigating the aftermath of the shocking murder of Veronica Guerin in 1996 that the then Government almost immediately announced a package of measures which included a proposal to transfer all major drug crime to the Special Criminal Court. That may have assuaged public opinion in part at the time but the record shows that nothing was done on foot of that commitment and the proposal was quietly abandoned in the cold light of day when its unconstitutional implications were evaluated. It is little surprise to me, therefore, that some of my critics whose parties used that suggestion as a stage prop in 1996 should cynically return to it in 2003 without remembering exactly why they rejected it back then.

Did the Minister ever hear of zero tolerance?

Since becoming Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I have set about implementing a programme of reform in respect of the Garda Síochána and the criminal justice system, consolidating the substantive criminal law reform into a single Crimes Act and putting to rights the massive problems we face in our prison system. I heard, with a leaden heart, the remarks of Deputy Stanton that morale in the prison system was lowered on my account and that I was closing prisons instead of opening them.

That is what the Minister is doing.

I am solving that problem which is a legacy of many years of failure to solve it. I rely on Members of this House to support me and to be unequivocal in their support.

The Minister just needs a quick victory because he is under so much pressure.

The other night I noticed the amount of sudden fence sitting on this subject. I know where I am going on this issue and I invite all parties to follow me because the public is on my side on this issue

What arrogance. When did the Minister last speak to the public?

What happened in Mountjoy yesterday?

I have also embarked on a major reorganisation of our courts system and, in particular, a reform of the criminal courts in the light of the Fennelly report. This is an ambitious programme which requires determination and a steady hand on the tiller and I intend to see it through.

I have also levelled with the Irish people. I have published crime figures as soon as they have become available to me and on a quarterly basis. I have done so in order that the public can see the true picture and that fact can displace myth.

Ireland has a relatively low crime rate. International comparisons contained in the National Crime Council's report, Crime in Ireland, note that the State is situated at the lower end of the scale. Of the countries studied by the council, only Switzerland, Greece, Russia and Japan had lower rates of violent crime. Similarly, comparative crime statistics compiled by the UK Home Office show that, in the years 1999 to 2001, the most recent available, an average of 1.42 murders were committed for every 100,000 persons in Ireland, which is below the EU average of 1.6.

These statistics also show that the increase in violent crime is an international phenomenon. For the period from 1997 to 2001, the average rise was 22% in the EU. With regard to crime in general, indictable crime in Ireland increased during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1995, just over 102,000 crimes were recorded. From 1995 to 2000, serious crime fell by 29%. For two years afterwards, the crime figures deteriorated in the aftermath of the introduction of the PULSE recording system but now show signs of stabilising and, indeed, declining. Provisional crime statistics for the first nine months of this year show a cumulative decrease of 3% compared with the figures for the corresponding period in 2002.

With regard to the number of murders, following a relatively stable period in the late 1990s when between 32 and 38 murders were committed each year, in 2001and 2002 just over 50 murders were committed each year. Happily, there is no evidence to date this year of a further increase on this level. In fact, figures reveal that violent crimes against the person fell consistently during the first nine months of this year. In 2002, assaults increased by just under a half. However, figures for the first nine months of this year show a decline of a quarter.

The record of the Garda Síochána continues to be excellent with impressive detection rates by international standards of 81% in homicide cases, 72% in assault cases and 68% in sexual offences in 2002.

Murder rates in Ireland are still comparatively low by comparison with international levels. Statistics for 2001 show that 52 people were murdered in that year and the figure for 2002 was 51. So far this year, a total of 44 people have lost their lives through unlawful killing in the State. In 15 of these cases only are the Garda of the view that they are related to gang activity.

I have heard the Garda criticised in this House because, in the would-be expert view of some Deputies opposite, prosecutions are not coming fast enough in these cases. I acknowledge that killings within the criminal fraternity present the Garda with particular difficulties. There are huge profits involved in organised crime, particularly in the drugs trade with all its devastating consequences for the community. To these criminals money is everything and killing is a tool of their business. They are prepared to take whatever action is necessary to protect their positions against anyone who gets in their way, including violence and murder. However, it is important to emphasise that of the total number of murders this year, detections have already been recorded in 25 cases.

All unlawful killings are the subject of exhaustive investigation by the Garda. There is no question of gang related deaths not being followed up with the same vigour as other killings. I will not countenance any suggestion by those opposite that the men and women of the Garda Síochána do otherwise. Regardless of how they are classified by the opposition and the media, the Garda subject all murders and violent crimes to detailed and thorough investigation. All the necessary technical services are deployed in the investigation of any killing. National units such as the national bureau of criminal investigation and the national drugs unit are available to assist where it is considered necessary. I am satisfied that everything possible is being done by the Garda Síochána in investigating such killings, in spite of all the difficulties involved.

In that context I have heard Members of this House speak in dramatic terms of 50 or 60 organised gangs operating. Let us be clear about the extent of the problem. I am informed by the Garda authorities that a situation report on Irish organised crime groups for 2002, which has been submitted to EUROPOL, indicates there are 17 major organised crime groups in this jurisdiction. A small number of the major groups now have, or have had in the past, links to paramilitary organisations.

In relation to public order, which became the subject of immediate public concern last year, I have also demonstrated that the matter could be tackled by immediate and effective legislative responses in the form of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act and the Intoxicating Liquor Act. The Garda Síochána has had considerable success in confronting street violence and public disorder. The Garda Commissioner informed me today that in the 12 month period from November 2002 to the end of October 2003 public order offences have sharply declined by 9% and violent assaults are down by more than 14%. This very considerable achievement reflects how good policing, adequately resourced and properly provided for in terms of legal reform, can turn the tide in a short time on what 12 months ago was described in this House as a crisis.

We have a shifting focus in this House. Last year the concern was that people were being kicked to death as a result of drunken disorder in our streets.

They were.

This was the crisis I was to address. Those disorderly scenes and drunkenness have been curbed. They were curbed by action taken by me in the face of considerable opposition from certain quarters in this House, although not all.

Quietly and without fuss the Garda Síochána improved its public order policing methods. I heard Deputy Stanton say the Garda presence on the streets is non-existent. That is the kind of exaggerated hyped-up disparagement of the police that cuts no ice with me. If you go around the streets of Dublin and talk to people who are on the streets they will tell you that the gardaí have got their act together in the city centre areas and have produced a tremendous improvement in the sense of security and in tackling public order offences in the last year. I congratulate the Assistant Commissioner, Kevin Carty, on what he has done.

One can talk about Garda morale. There they have an achievement and the Opposition knows that. Instead of acknowledging it Deputy Stanton says the presence of gardaí on the street is non-existent.

Why are they all retiring?

That is the kind of carping criticism that saps Garda morale. It is irresponsible. The Opposition thinks it is getting at me by saying that but it is an attack on the Garda force.

The Minister is the one who is attacking them.

The Minister made an allegation about the Garda. Will he withdraw his allegation?

The message which the small, unrepresentative group of young and not so young thugs, who constitute themselves into criminal gangs, are getting from the Government and must also receive loud and clear from this House is that, by giving the two fingers to the State and to society as a whole—

The Minister is the one who is giving two fingers.

—they have outraged the vast majority of law abiding people and have begun to fight well above their weight. They need to know that while there may be disagreements between different parties and individuals as to what are the best solutions and approaches – and these will no doubt be reflected in political debate in this House – the Government, the people and the people's representatives are at one in saying to them that their acts of intimidation and their bully boy tactics will not succeed.

They need to be in no doubt that their activities will be met head-on by the forces of law and order who have full Government support and the confidence to take them on. If they rely on misguided rumour and innuendo to the effect that Garda morale is such that thuggery will go unchallenged, they are making a big mistake. They are facing one of the best and most professional police forces, which has shown on many occasions since the foundation of the State that challenges by the forces of evil, some more grave than any we face now, will be met with strength and determination and that no lawless minority will be allowed to undermine public order or hold its neighbours in fear.

There are more Garda resources in place now than ever before. This is a fact and not an empty claim. I have been able, as a result of prudent budgetary management and through the Garda authorities, to release further resources this year, and I will continue to do so next year. If the Garda Commissioner makes the best professional judgment that a further redirection of resources is required, he knows he has my support for any measures he takes. The criminal gangs can and will be taken out of circulation and their ill-gotten gains vigorously pursued within the rule of law and not outside its remit.

I am grateful to Members for their vigorous participation in this debate. I stand for what Kevin O'Higgins stood: the forces of law and order, support of the Garda, an insistence on high standards and not compromising with low standards. This is the professionalism I require, obtain and will continue to obtain from the Garda Síochána with the help and support of all sides of the House. I appeal to the House to stop carping and sniping and support the Garda to help it win the battle.

Will the Minister apologise to gardaí for the allegation he made about them?

The Minister is changing his tune.

Acting Chairman

I call on Deputy Costello.

That is what pressure does.

I wish to share my time with Deputies Upton and Wall.

Acting Chairman

Is that agreed? Agreed.

The Minister's opening remarks were accurate in that truth can often be a casualty in war. It was certainly a casualty in his address which was interesting but contained more fiction than fact. He might submit it for the Booker prize. It gave the impression that everything was hunky-dory in the criminal justice system he represents and that everyone else is out of step except him.

This Private Members' motion by Fine Gael is timely and welcome. Vicious family feuding in Limerick and gangland-type executions in Dublin have dominated the media in recent months. There have been 19 gangland killings already in 2003, compared with a total of eight in 2002, and only three prosecutions are pending. These are the harsh statistics.

The country witnessed the recent debacle of moving the Central Criminal Court to Limerick, its being compelled to transfer back to Dublin when a jury could not be empanelled and the collapse of the trial because witnesses refused to testify—

Those were two different cases.

That is what I am saying. The Minister is not listening to me. There was no worthwhile corroborative evidence other than that of those witnesses and therefore a nolle prosequi was entered, as was necessary. This was followed by the triumphant accused giving the two fingers to all and sundry outside the court. It constituted a potent symbol of the abject failure of the agents of the State at every level of the criminal justice system to protect citizens from organised crime and to prosecute a murder trial effectively.

The subsequent hoax bomb threat to the outspoken journalist Paul Williams raised the spectre of the gangland execution in 1996 of Veronica Guerin, the most outspoken crime journalist of her era. How come we hear today that the Garda has removed protection from Paul Williams some days after the planting of the hoax bomb given that the amendment to the motion refers to the Minister's condemnation of the despicable actions of the criminals who placed the hoax bomb under the journalist's car and congratulates the Garda on prompt action in discovering the crime? This is the story in the newspapers today. Will the Minister clarify this matter?

A palpable shudder of fear, disbelief and outrage shook the country after the collapse of the murder trial in the Central Criminal Court. The trial judge declared that the events in his court were unprecedented and the media declared a crisis in the thousands of column inches they produced since then. A newspaper poll showed that 83% of the public surveyed thought there was a crisis of crime. The Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights has now decided to hold hearings on the criminal justice issues relating to the collapse of the murder trial in the Central Criminal Court.

Former detective inspector Gerry O'Carroll declared in the Sunday Independent last week that there were 980 applications from gardaí for the force's pre-retirement course. Will the Minister comment on this? The retired detective inspector also stated that Garda morale was at an all-time low. The Minister, as usual, lashed out at everyone, rejecting knee-jerk reactions and sound-bite proposals in general. On one day he stated that he would not allow the Constitution to be torn up and a few days later he approached the Sunday Independent to say that he was open to every proposal that might be made. He had little to offer other than that he was thinking about a Canadian judicial practice of allowing statements to be considered by the jury if a witness subsequently refused to testify or retracted his or her statement.

The stewardship of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has been a shambles to date. It is no wonder that the poll in the Sunday Independent last Sunday showed 83% of the people interviewed were dissatisfied with his handling of organised crime. This is what people are thinking in the real world, not in the world reflected in the nice statement the Minister read to the House.

The single greatest failure of the Minster was reneging on the pre-election promise of his party, the Progressive Democrats, and that of Fianna Fáil, and the coalition's collective post-election promise in its joint manifesto to "expand the Garda Síochána by a further 2,000" in excess of the planned strength of 12,000, which was to be reached by the end of 2002. At the end of 2003, we still have not even reached the 2002 target. The commitment to have 2,000 extra gardaí has been shelved.

No amount of bluster will conceal that colossal deceit of the electorate. No action other than the provision of the extra gardaí will restore the confidence of the citizens who live in increasing fear of anti-social behaviour in their communities and who read in the newspapers, hear on the radio and view on their television sets daily accounts of the growing incidence of organised crime and brutal slayings.

The unarmed garda in uniform on the beat who responds quickly to the call of the distressed citizen or who deters crime through his or her visibility on the street in the community epitomises perfectly the role of the Garda Síochána as the servant of the people and guardian of the peace, as envisaged by those who founded the organisation towards the beginning of the previous century. The Garda needs new structures to enable it to reconnect with people at community level and there is a great need for community police fora to be established urgently on a statutory basis. This will shift the role of the uniformed gardaí to one of community policing.

If the election promises were kept, Garda numbers would be increased to 14,000. This is not a huge number considering that approximately double that number are employed in the private security services sector and that the British Government is deploying 14,000 policemen in London alone on the visit of President Bush to England today. Moreover, the recruitment of the extra gardaí would restore morale, give a breather to the existing overstretched Garda force and would allow for round the clock surveillance of targeted criminals.

There is no substitute for a strong, well-motivated, well-trained, professional police force with adequate resources and the skills to adapt to the threat presented by the new generation of organised criminals. Drugs, prostitution, human trafficking, smuggling and fraud are at the heart of organised crime in Ireland in this century. Today, organised criminals have a ready supply of high-performance weapons and hired assassins to enforce their will on their patch. Wealth beyond their wildest dreams is the prize for those who work in this murky underworld. Rootless young men from the most deprived housing estates of Limerick, Dublin and Belfast have little to lose and much to gain. The fact that they are preying on their own people is of little consequence to them. Indeed, because they are preying on their own, they have often been left untouched by the police to wreak havoc and tear the heart out of defenceless communities.

The establishment of an organised crime unit to combat organised crime is urgently needed. A month ago, the Garda Commissioner told the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights that the Garda Síochána is aware of the identities of the criminals but needed to get "lucky"– the Minister used the same term in the House – to catch and put them behind bars. Luck is not a factor in organised crime and should not be a factor in the Garda's pursuit of organised criminals. An organised crime unit would be a highly professional body with the detective tools, skills, resources and personnel to carry out investigatory work and would have the technology to mount sophisticated electronic surveillance. It would also have access to a new DNA databank which would provide the cutting edge for forensic evidence, something apparently badly lacking at present. It would recruit accounting and financial expertise and have access to Revenue and social welfare files. It would link up with Europol where international crime was involved and, as in the case of the Criminal Assets Bureau, officials from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Forensic Science Laboratory would fast-track cases and evidence in order that organised crime offences would be dealt with and seen to be dealt with most expeditiously. An overall strategy combining swift action and sustained pressure emanating from a variety of directions would remove the element of luck from policing and replace it with one of professional efficiency.

The reason for the collapse of a case in the Central Criminal Court today was faulty police procedures. Despite the recommendations made in 1978 by Mr. Justice Barra Ó Briain, no video recording equipment was in operation in Finglas and Blanchardstown Garda stations 20 years later. This is the fault of the Minister and his predecessors. Will the Minister give the House a commitment that another year will not elapse before such equipment is installed in every Garda station which has an interview room?

I am pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this debate. I invite the Minister to visit my constituency, which is one of those areas in which there are, unfortunately, pockets of serious disadvantage and crime. Despite this, the few resources available to it are spread thinly. Deputies have frequently tabled parliamentary questions seeking resources for projects in the area, for example, the Rialto policing forum. We have failed to elicit a commitment that any money will be forthcoming for the forum which has been operating on a wing and a prayer. It is a well supported group to which the community is committed and local gardaí are responsive, but we cannot continue to operate without some form of funding to make it effective and viable. It is no longer possible to operate on a volunteer basis. The forum is located in an area with serious crime problems and social disadvantage which will not go away.

I will not snipe at or criticise the Garda Síochána. I strongly support it in my area and recognise the hard work being done by gardaí with limited resources. They tell me that if we move resources into an area about which I have highlighted a problem, they will have to take them from another area, which will have a fall-out and lead to further problems down the line. The reality is that resources sufficient to inspire confidence in the community are not available on a consistent and continuous basis. The fall-out of this is that the community lives in fear and its members live in fortresses.

There is a gangland element in parts of my constituency. I do not want to create the impression that the entire area is affected, but it has pockets where gangs operate. People know who these gangs are and live in fear and terror of their members who are completely out of control. We have had regular shootings and a number of murders in the area and it is not uncommon to have drug related crime. The crime we like to describe as joyriding is a continuous problem.

The Minister made no mention of factors which would influence the prevention of crime. A commitment to joined-up thinking on crime prevention is badly needed. In areas where education is poorly subscribed, crime follows and this is the case in the pockets of my constituency to which I have referred. There are many socially disadvantaged people in my constituency who depend on back-up and supports. While some limited supports are available for children and, on occasion, for parents, I have not yet encountered any form of holistic approach which encompasses family. Without this, there is little point in introducing good support and services.

Deputy Kenny referred to the differences between rich and poor at the ages of three months, three years, six years and so forth and the obvious effect of lack of education and social disadvantage as well as the consequent fall-out in terms of crime levels in areas of social disadvantage. I appeal to the Minister to give a much stronger commitment to crime prevention and to ensure such measures are given a much greater input. Tackling the outcome of crime is not the correct approach.

As I stated, I recognise the commitment of the Garda Síochána. We all know good community gardaí who work diligently and show commitment. There is, however, a limit to what they can do. Local authorities also have an important role to play in ensuring the facilities they provide are well managed and maintained. Co-operation and integrated thinking is what is required in the area of crime prevention and control.

I thank my colleague, Deputy Costello, for sharing time. I wish to address the drug culture we are allowing to develop. I fully support the Garda Síochána's recent efforts and congratulate it on the major finds it has made in recent months. These are, however, the tip of the iceberg. We must introduce further support mechanisms to maximise the potential of Garda efforts and ensure that we prevent a drug culture from developing.

If a recent drugs find in a nightclub in the north of the State is typical of nightclubs elsewhere, it provides evidence to sustain my theory that we are allowing a drug culture to develop. My theory derives from approaches made to me, including by children, and encounters I have had on the streets. The number of gardaí with appropriate expertise is not sufficient to deal with the drug pushers, who are moving to greenfield sites. When the Garda Síochána is successful in Dublin, drug dealers are pushed out into large towns and even smaller towns in rural areas. We must ensure that appropriate expertise and additional gardaí are provided and that the development of community policing is permitted. If we do not try to reduce the market for drugs, we will allow the drug culture to take on frightening proportions.

The Garda Síochána has been successful in my local area. One reads in all the local newspapers of cases where the Garda has brought people before the courts on drugs charges. Nevertheless, there is an ongoing problem. Young people attending secondary schools and third level institutions will tell one that any drug one wants is available on the market. Will the Minister explain to the House how we will defeat the drugs culture? How will we ensure that our young people, the next generation, will not have the threat of drugs hanging over them?

The Minister referred to the RAPID programme. This programme is operating in my home town but, unfortunately, no funding has been provided to sustain it. There is a wonderful co-ordinator in the town but she will confirm that the funding has not been made available.

Debate adjourned.
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