Very shortly we will have circulated to this House the Criminal Justice Bill. I come from a constituency where there are a number of major problems in relation to law and order. There is general lawlessness and vandalism. It is only fitting that I should say a few words on the items I hope this Bill will cover. We had a debate here recently on the Community Services Bill. I believe the present Minister for Justice is trying to deal with the problems of urban crime with which we have been bedevilled for a number of years. We have been hearing for a number of years that there were not enough gardaí on the beat. In the last year or two there certainly has been an increase on the number of foot patrols. The Garda have tried to co-operate with the community and to overcome the massive problems of lawlessness. It is almost impossible to stop the rising level of crime but if we could even control it and stop the escalation of vandalism, robberies, handbag snatching, robberies of houses, attacks on the person, if we could at least give some protection to the ordinary individual, we would be going a long way. I believe that the present Minister, so far as it is possible for him to do so with the present legislation, is doing that.
The major problem now in my constituency of Dublin Central and in every urban area is drugs. The godfathers of the drug-pushing industry are succeeding in getting entire communities into an unbelievable position. They are using the poverty and deprivation of the community to force them into robbing, theft and vandalism to feed their drugs habit. It is impossible to stop this with the present legislation. I know the Minister will take the opportunity presented by the Criminal Justice Bill to overcome this problem. I believe he will take hard, draconian measures, which will be implemented with a lot of criticism of him because the do-gooders of this world will tell him that his measures will discriminate against this person and that person. It will be like the argument in 1977 that we did not need Loughan House. Anyone who is familiar with the areas in this city where the real crime takes place will realise that it is not a question of a community centre or an open space or a job. There are social problems, problems that are very important, but what this country needs very badly is not alone adequate measures to deal with the social issues but equally to deal with those people who use for crime the lack of social facilities and the lack of opportunities in this life.
In Dublin city at present there are many people who will abuse whatever system they can to further their own interests in crime. These people have to be dealt with. They have to be taken out of the system. If that is not done there is no chance of dealing with either the social problems or the problems of law and order. I hope the Minister and the Government will have the moral courage necessary to implement a Bill which is necessary to deal with that problem, it will not be a popular measure. It will be a measure which will be supported by the silent majority, the people who are afraid to come out at night, afraid to walk the streets in the daytime and those people who have for a number of years been besieged by criminal activities.
Earlier on this year I used the wrong words when I said that if those measures are not implemented the people will take the law into their own hands and the vigilantes will take over. What I should have more correctly said was that, if there is not co-operation between the local communities and the police force to overcome and eliminate those people who actively pursue crime as a way of life, this country and this city in particular will degenerate.
I know the Minister understands. He is from a city himself. There is a small element in Dublin, Cork, Limerick who will use vandalism and crime to make substantial sums of money. If the Criminal Justice Bill does not take these people out of circulation in a very tough and forceful manner it will not have done the job I would have thought it would do. Jobs and community centres are other issues and the godfathers of crime are not interested in those things. In one area a community centre was recently turned down by the local people. It was to be a very excellent community centre arranged by Dublin Corporation to be built by AnCO services in co-operation with environmental work schemes. It was turned down on the basis that if it went into this flat complex it would bring in elements from other areas and bring down the area even further. That is a sad reflection on the situation. It is sad that where facilities are badly needed a community besieged by the problem of heroin would refuse a facility offered to them. This is within a mile of O'Connell Bridge.
There is very little being done about these problems. I could take any Member of this House or you, a Cheann Comhairle, to a part of my constituency where you would see heroin for sale right now. These places are known to the Garda. The individuals who sell and push the drugs, who distribute them and co-ordinate the activities are known to the Garda, but still they operate. That is a sad fact. There are people between the ages of 14 and 18 whose lives are being totally destroyed. We are in here with fairly plush facilities talking about problems but not reaching a solution. We can talk all we like, but outside of this House people's lives are being pulled apart, families are being besieged, people are ruined forever, and some die — all because of the drug problem. If we do not legislate to deal with those problems we are failing in our duty as public representatives. I know that nothing I say would surprise the Minister or shock him. He hears it every day. Measures must be implemented to enable gardaí to arrest the racketeers, break their grip on the city and deal with these people who are dangerous to speak about or to work against. If they are not dealt with quickly, the city will continue to decline.
Three or four years ago heroin was almost unknown in the city, except in a few small circles. Now it is freely available in several areas. If the resources are not made available to deal with this menace, where will it stop? One reads about unemployment, deprivation and lack of housing facilities; but up to 30 years ago the housing in this city and the jobs position were worse than they are today. The tenements and slums, most of which have been knocked down but some of which still remain, indicate the conditions of those times when the present-day amenities were lacking. Training schemes for young people and development and youth employment offices were unknown in the inner city. In those times there was no problem of neighbour attacking neighbour, or of one street warning against another, of godfathers, drugs, vandalism and all the savage crimes using the present unemployment and recessionary conditions. These are a new trade to the city, mainly caused by the drug abuse problem and we appear totally unable to cope.
One can talk about more gardaí, more Garda overtime and more and better regulations; but there must be a will and people cannot operate on a nine to five basis, standing at the end of the street hoping that nothing will happen tonight. That is not the way to solve the problem. The Garda must be committed in their determination to do their utmost to cure the present ailments. If they do not, the consequences are unthinkable. They need extra legislation, but that is not the whole problem. Even with their present resources they can do a lot. I am familiar with their endeavours in the inner city and congratulate the present Minister and his predecessors on increasing the number of gardaí. However, it is no good only having numbers. This city cannot afford to have no-go areas. If we do not have them officially, they are there unofficially after dark. Gardaí must use the present resources and, it is hoped, the extra ones which they will get in the future with the support of everybody in this House, to tackle the problem of these area.
I am sure that the Minister will have the courage to bring in the Bill which is necessary for these times. There are the pressure groups that talk about the need to solve the root causes of the problem. The major crime gangs in this city are not interested in the root cause of any problem. They are interested in exploitation in every way possible. If the Garda cannot be confident of successfully bringing these people to justice, we are going nowhere. I have spoken frequently to gardaí on the beat who have told me of the five or six people who are causing the problems in their areas. At constituency clinics, party meetings, residents' associations and community meetings you will hear precisely the same names. However, you still see those people walking freely about the streets. I wish to put on the record that it is an absolute frustration for a young, active, committed garda who wishes to do his job diligently and to arrest such people. He may think he has a foolproof case against them but no sooner will the garda be out of the court than the person whom he brought into court will be back in the area. That is not an exaggeration, although at one time I thought it was. I have seen too many cases.
In my own constituency about 18 months ago a person had been arrested seven or eight times in the same month. The gardaí warned him of the dire consequences of his continuing in his crimes and when they came outside the station they found that their patrol car was gone. They knew where to recover it and did so. When gardaí cannot do their own duties no matter how diligent they are and when things like that happen to them, they feel useless.
There are a number of speakers from my party and from the Government who wish to come in on this debate which ends at 10.30 p.m. The Minister has perhaps one opportunity, because it is not every day that a major Bill on justice comes into this House. It will have to be painstakingly prepared, detailed and ruthless. We hear the opinion of the do-gooders who live far away from these problems and who do not understand the distress of the 75 year old women whose homes are broken into time and time again or have to listen to the elderly women whose heads have been beaten off the ground, to men who have had their wage packages stolen or their social welfare payments snatched when coming back from places like Cumberland Street or Gardiner Street. Unfortunately, these victims are not articulate in public debate. They are never asked about their problems. They are the silent majority who are absolutely sickened and bewildered by the present rules and regulations. They wonder if the day will come when Dáil Éireann will legislate for them. For years these people have traditionally supported democratic politics and have seen that these have worked, perhaps through two world wars but certainly through one. Now, in their old age, they have no protection. They can tell how these problems can be solved.
If these problems are not solved by democratic means, unfortunately people will think that there must be other ways. None of us agree with that, but there is an absolute obligation on us to ensure that the legislative powers are given to the Garda force to carry out their duties.
Otherwise, we waste our time as public representatives and the taxpayers' money. The Minister, as a man coming from an urban area, will, I am sure, take the necessary measures once and for all to take on the godfathers of crime — the social problems are a different Minister's responsibility. These people need sentences which befit their crimes. One can afterwards deal with the people whom they have misled. Until those criminals are taken out of circulation and serve the sentences which they deserve and not in and out under the Probation Act and because of adjournments and minor technicalities, the life of the city will continue to disimprove.
People may say in court that these criminals have offended for the first time, but it may well be the fiftieth time. They manage to commit serious crimes with the knowledge that there is a very small chance of being arrested. If they are arrested, there is a smaller chance of their being brought before the court. If they are brought before the court, there is an even smaller chance of ever being convicted and, after all those stages, if they are convicted they can be absolutely sure that they will not serve much of their sentences. They can go free and continue robbing, committing crimes of vandalism and skullduggery. If this continues, we will have failed absolutely as a parliament, as a body here to legislate. The Minister will have my support and I am certain the support of the majority of Members for whatever measures he sees fit to take.
