I raise the matter of the need for the Minister for Justice to assign additional gardaí to Bray as a result of serious incidents in the town of Bray in recent weeks and months. I am not referring to an isolated incident which happened this week. Bray is an emergency case in terms of law and order, business, commerce and tourism. The crime rate in Bray, which is alarmingly high, is obviously damaging the town in many ways.
I draw the Minister's attention to the front page of this morning's Bray People. It reads, “Handgun Drawn During Carnival”. That most unfortunate incident occurred this week as a result of which four youths were detained, a handgun was found, at least one garda, perhaps two, were beaten up and some reports in newspapers have referred to at least 35 people being involved. At the moment the numbers involved are still, unfortunately, unclear but we know this was a serious incident. One of the problems is that there are not enough gardaí on the beat, especially when the Bray Festival is taking place, and many visitors come to Bray. If this were an isolated incident I would not be asking the Minister for additional gardaí. I am asking for more gardaí in Bray on a permanent basis because this type of incident has happened before and will happen again.
I make this appeal to the Minister because the damage being done to the town of Bray as a result of these incidents is extremely serious in the long term. The town is already suffering from an acute commercial crisis, severe unemployment and now endures a crime level and a level of violence which has, unfortunately, hit the headlines nationally and locally.
Obviously Bray is dependent on tourism and commerce. In terms of tourism, the incident last week is something to which we should respond immediately in order to reassure those who visit Bray, not only from Dublin, but from overseas. There are many foreign students in the town of Bray at present. An incident such as this will inevitably reach people abroad and will discourage foreigners, as well as Irish people from coming to the town. We need to reassure people who are thinking of setting up commercial ventures in Bray or visiting Bray that immediate action is being taken because we are putting more gardaí on the beat since it has been proved in the past few years that the number of gradaí assigned permanently to Bray is insufficient to deal with the problems.
It is almost a ritual in this House to say this but I do not wish for one moment to criticise the gardaí in Bray or anywhere else. In fact, the rate of crime detection in Bray is extremely good. The problem is prevention. Once crimes have been committed in Bray they are almost always detected, particularly the high profile cases. That can give the town a bad name; we might be better off if they were never detected because then the town would not be highlighted. It is essential that emphasis be put on crime prevention in a town that is increasingly assailed by the criminal fraternity. Bray is vulnerable because it is on the DART line. Criminals travel on the DART and make morning and afternoon raids. There are many commuters resident in the town and their houses are vulnerable to be burgled as a result. The Minister should be aware of the problem in Bray. There may appear to be a relatively large Garda presence in the Bray area, but it must be remembered that they have to cover Shankill, Greystones, areas of Kilmacanogue as well as Bray town.
My own informal soundings on this is that despite the fact that there may be at any one time what appears to be a large Garda presence in Bray with three community gardaí, one permanent summons server, one juvenile liaison officer and one warrant officer, if you take away the two members who are permanently assigned to the patrol car and the one in the station, the maximum number on the beat is one. Therefore, in the town of Bray, with a population of nearly 30,000, there will only be one Garda on the beat at any particular time and in a town with a large population and with an unfortunate record, that is not good enough if we are serious about combating crime and making people feel safer in their beds.
The key to the problem is prevention, not detection. There must be a permanent Garda presence. We have had crisis after crisis, gangs are able to roam the street unhindered because they know there are not enough gardaí in the area.
What we saw this week, unfortunately, is the apex of a crisis which continues to surface in the town of Bray. I raise the matter today because if nothing is done, if we do not have extra gardaí in the town, similar incidents will happen again and again. It is no coincidence that this problem hit the national newspapers on several occasions this week. It is not a local issue. The town is getting a bad name and for the sake of the residents, the business community and everybody connected with Bray, immediate action is required to curb crime.
