I thank the Minister for Justice for attending the House to take this Adjournment matter and the Cathaoirleach for allowing this important matter of attacks on tourists to be raised. The matter warrants a full debate in the House but, unfortunately, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, you did not agree. However, I am pleased to have the matter on the Adjournment.
I am convinced that urgent attention must be paid by the Minister to this matter. Special arrangements must be introduced with the Garda to ensure that visitors to the country are not subjected to robberies, physical attacks, break-ins and other abuses.
Since the beginning of this year's tourist season there have been four serious attacks on tourists in Dublin and one reported rape of a tourist in Galway. This spate of violence must be nipped in the bud. Cowardly criminals of a very low kind have identified tourists as soft targets. The Minister must not be soft on these thugs. Action must be taken, our tourist industry must not be damaged by the growth of such attacks. We have time to ensure that this is done, we must not wait until there is an epidemic of violent crime against tourists before moves are taken to deal with such crime.
The Minister must ensure that the Garda have adequate resources to combat this new form of crime. Increased resources are needed throughout the country to combat crime in general as people are living in fear in their homes. However, we are dealing specifically with the issue of tourist crime. The Minister should consider the establishment of a small Garda task force to control tourist crime, the success of which would I hope render its work unnecessary after a short period. If the criminals who perpetrate such crimes against tourists are aware that there is a high probability of their being apprehended and the full rigours of the law applied to them these cowardly acts will cease. Crime prevention is the key to success in this area. There must be deterrents in regard to criminals who perpetrate crimes against tourists.
The Criminal Evidence Act, 1992, must be fully applied. During the debate in this House on 1 July 1992, I referred to assaults on visitors. I will quote briefly from what I said on that occasion:
The introduction of a system whereby visitors to this land of a thousand welcomes who are assaulted or robbed can give sworn evidence in the presence of a district justice before leaving the country and which is admissible in court, will assist to improve the conviction rate for such cowardly crimes....The fact that victims can now give evidence through a live television link-up — a sensible use of modern technology — and that witnesses will be cross-examined by way of a television link-up, is to be welcomed. I also welcome the introduction of this system which brings some semblance of justice to the area of tourist crime and endeavours to control this dastardly criminal activity against our visitors.
The law is in place but has not been applied. There may be problems with identification of criminals in court but the law should be fully tested to try to counteract this crime problem.
We should also make tourists aware of the dangers which exist at present. The "Take Care" leaflet issued by Dublin Tourism attempts to do this in a small way. I obtained this leaflet today from Dublin Tourism's office on O'Connell Street. This advice should be extended to include the danger of physical attacks; such advice should be made available to all tourists entering the country rather than collected by them at places like tourist shops. This advice should also, for a short period, highlight areas of the city which tourists should frequent least. We should not have any "no go" areas but visitors should be advised to be careful in areas of most danger. The Garda should be given the resources to eradicate crime in these areas and allow both tourists and local inhabitants to feel safe in them.
A recent change in police practice involves persons who are arrested for a range of crimes, including muggings, simply having their names and addresses taken and then being released and later summonsed. This change encourages petty criminals in all areas to commit more crimes. A recent article in The Irish Times pointed out that in some areas of Dublin people breaking into cars, muggers, pickpockets, handbag snatchers and shoplifters are taken two or three times a day to Garda stations to have their names and addresses entered on crime forms and are then released without charge. Detection on the spot is now no more than a temporary inconvenience for such criminals, involving a quick trip to a Garda station and detention for a matter of minutes before being released. This must stop. I ask the Minister to comment on this and to intervene to ensure that this practice is discontinued.
Our tourist industry is very important to the economy and must be protected from such crimes, there is still time to do this. In 1991, tourism was worth in excess of £1.7 billion, there were three million overseas visitors to the country and 87,000 jobs were directly supported by tourism. In that year the State gave grants in excess of £13 million and Bórd Fáilte invested £21 million in marketing from its budget of £52 million. An investment to ensure that our tourists are safe and that our tourism industry does not get a bad name would be money well spent. We must ensure that our good reputation as a welcoming nation is not damaged by thugs. Any resources provided to ensure this is an investment. I thank the Minister for being here.
