I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy O'Dea, to the House. I am glad Deputy O'Dea is here because he can relate to some of the things I will say and he understands them better than other Deputies as he comes from Limerick. I am sure he will convey our concerns to the Minister for Justice, Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn.
I want the Minister to consider the concerns of the people of Rathkeale, County Limerick, about law and order during the year and, in particular, at Christmas time. I want to inform the House about the background to this issue. It is accepted that Rathkeale is a unique town because there are two distinct communities with two different cultures and values living side by side in a tolerant way. There are 1,800 people living in Rathkeale, approximately 700 from the travelling community. Both communities live in reasonable harmony. Obviously, the situation I have described creates tension, but it is reasonably controlled.
In presenting the case tonight I speak for the local travelling community and the settled community in Rathkeale. Problems develop around holiday periods such as Christmas, Easter and other events, when large numbers of transient travellers come into the town. Last Christmas between 70 and 100 caravans came into the town and parked indiscriminately. Indiscriminate parking is one problem which must be tackled. Many people who park indiscriminately have property in the town and they could use it for parking.
I want to deal with the level of violence and lawlessness which accompanies this problem. I am not saying that every member of the transient travelling community is breaking the law but a large number are. They intimidate the settled community and some of the travelling community. People feel they cannot leave their houses; old people feel intimidated, especially when public houses close or when a large number of youths group together. One can see vans driving at a high speed and making dangerous handbrake turns in some of the streets.
I am a member of the council in that area and we have tried to introduce various systems to control this problem. I doubt if rumble strips, etc. would control the type of driving which is taking place. It is not unusual to see the entire street blocked with people in two vans talking to each other. However, it is the level of intimidation and the breaking of the law in other areas which I wish to debate tonight.
I ask the Minister to ensure that an adequate number of gardaí are in the town to police it properly during this period of one month to six weeks. The people in the town feel there is an insufficient number of gardaí. I know there are not enough gardaí to show a proper presence at such times. I ask the Minister to ensure that the number of gardaí is substantially increased for that period, that they patrol the streets 24 hours each day and that there is an obvious Garda presence throughout the town during that period.
The other area I want to deal with is the courts and the court sittings during the periods in question. I refer to how effective the court sitting was in Thurles, County Tipperary, during Féile '93. It reduced the level of crime because those who might have committed crime were aware that immediate action would be taken. Everyone who worked to achieve this must be commended. It would greatly help the situation in Rathkeale if a similar system was in operation during the relevant periods. The present procedures which apply for bringing people to court do not work because of the unusual circumstances.
The system of bringing people to court takes three to four months and this has no effect in the circumstances I am talking about. There is no deterrent to prevent the people I have mentioned from committing crime. These people know they will not be around when a summons is issued and by the time their case comes before the court they will have left the area. The gardaí are frustrated because they know that if they take names and addresses where the drivers have no tax or insurance, for speeding or other type of lawlessness, the perpetrators will not be brought to court because they cannot be found in March or April. This is the pattern.
I ask the Minister and the Department of Justice to ensure that the special circumstances I have outlined are taken into consideration and that courts sit during December. It is unfortunate that no court sits during that period. It would help if there was some way of bringing the perpetrators to justice. I also request the Minister to ask the gardaí and the officials at the Department to consider the introduction of by-laws to control the situation. Perhaps on-the-spot fines could be applied and other by-laws could be considered to help control an unusual and unique situation.
I am making a particular case for a particular town. This is a very different town which cannot be compared to any other town in Ireland. In the town, both communities exhibit a high level of tolerance towards each other. Rathkeale should set a headline for other towns in Ireland.
There are two problems there and I am dealing with one tonight, that is, law and order. There are people in the town who are extremely concerned and very frightened and there is a small element who might suggest that they take the law into their own hands. The last thing we want is a repetition of what happened in Galway, which we must condemn; that is no way to deal with such a problem.
I ask the Minister to give the issue his consideration, to bring it before the Minister for Justice and to do what he can. Coming from Limerick he understands what I am saying, and maybe some of the things I am not saying.
