Vol. 409 No. 5
8 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Justice his views on whether, at present, Garda have to operate under outdated Statutes against increasingly professionalised and sophisticated criminals; and, if so, his proposals to deal with the situation.
The Minister for Justice has on a number of occasions, in reply to parliamentary questions, indicated to the House that we accept the need for updating our criminal laws and that in fact we are doing a good deal about it with all the speed that the resources at our disposal allow.
With regard to the type of legislation which seems to be referred to in the question, I might mention that we have before the House the Criminal Damage Bill, 1990, which proposes to replace the Malicious Damage Act, 1861, and penalises the unauthorised modification and accessing of computer data. Also, we hope shortly to be in a position to publish a Criminal Evidence Bill which, among other things, will provide for the admissibility as evidence in criminal matters of business and computerised records. We will also be introducing a Bill to provide for the seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of drug trafficking and other serious crime and the prevention of money-laundering.
As to the area of the law dealing with crimes of dishonesty, the Larceny Act, 1990, which the Minister for Justice initiated, updates and refines the law on receiving. The Law Reform Commission are at present conducting a comprehensive review on the law on other aspects of dishonesty and their report, when published, will be receiving our early attention.
Since assuming office as Minister for Justice in July 1989 Deputy Burke has promoted other important legislation to deal with modern day crime — the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990, for example, provides for very strict controls on the carrying of offensive weapons and, effectively, bans stun guns; and the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence) Act, 1990, provides for the taking of bodily samples for DNA and other forensic testing.
This record is clear evidence of progress in updating the area of the law referred to by the Deputy. It shows this Government's commitment to law reform and to ensuring that we have better and more modern legislation.
Let me remind the Minister of State that the words used in this question, "Garda have to operate under outdated Statutes against increasingly professionalised and sophisticated criminals", are the words used by the Director of Public Prosecutions in a recent speech. I am sure the Minister of State will take what the Director of Public Prosecutions said seriously. Will he agree that, despite the progress made over the past number of years, we still have an increasing crime problem? Would he not agree it is time to set up a criminal law reform commission, headed by a High Court judge, to review all statutes in relation to criminal law?
I agree with what the Director of Public Prosecutions said and I agree with much of what Deputy Barrett said. We have to be absolutely certain that we are at one on what the exact situation is. The Deputy talked about a special high powered commission but the Minister dealt with this in a reply to a question in this House on 2 May last. He indicated he had no proposals to establish such a separate law reform commission. While he accepted that significant areas of our criminal law require review and updating he pointed out that the resources we can devote to law reform are limited and that the best use that can be made of these resources is to target these areas where the need for review and reform is greatest. He pointed out also that work is not finished when a commission reports and make recommendations for legislation but that further considerable work has to go into preparing and drafting Bills to implement the recommendations both in our Department and in the draftsman's office, as is the case with all Departments.
I do not think Deputy Barrett is accurate when he says there is an increasing level of crime. The crime level has been well contained by the tremendous vigilance of the Garda Síochána.
The Minister has not been around canvassing in the local elections.
I join with Deputy Barrett in urging the Minister of State to review the position of his Department in regard to the establishment of a separate law reform commission on criminal law. Is it the position of the Minister, and his Department, that no legislation will emanate from the Department until the Law Reform Commission issue reports, recommendations and draft legislation? Are there any proposals in the Department, the office of the Attorney General or any other Government Department, to deal with commercial fraud? Is there anything in the offing or will the Government await the report of the Law Reform Commission before anything is done?
I am sure Deputy McCartan is fully aware that no Government have waited for a law reform commission to report on the various aspects of updating our legislation. The Government often take their own initiative and proceed with various Bills.
Nothing has been put forward in this area except what they produced.
If the Law Reform Commission were considering a facet of or a particular problem with our law, it would be prudent of any Department to await the publication of that report.
Will the Minister have one Bill that will come from the Department?
I can assure the Deputy we are working on several Bills. The Minister for Justice, Deputy Burke, gave a list over the past two months and I gave some indications of what we are doing. We are still working on other Bills and we will continue to do so. We are giving priority to the areas in need of greatest reform. We will make as much progress as we can to ensure that the laws are adequate to deal with the various problems we have.
Will the Minister not agree that there is no greater priority, outside the jobs crisis, than the need to tackle crime that affects ordinary citizens? Will the Minister agree that the only way to update all our laws which are badly in need of updating — all one has to do is to open the newspapers to read what the judges are saying in court — is to set up a special law reform commission to review all criminal laws. There is no point in rectifying our economy, having our balance of payments in order, if people cannot walk the streets or leave their home without the fear that their house will be broken into or that they will be mugged on our streets?
I referred earlier to the special Law Reform Commission report on criminal law. Deputy Barrett states that crime seems to be getting out of hand.
It is.
The Government are concerned about the level of crime and the Minister for Justice has published a detailed and comprehensive crime fighting package. In the period 1984-90 crime figures fell by about 12 per cent overall from 99,727 to 87,658 crimes, while the number of convictions rose by 10 per cent from 16,396 to 17,957. Within these overall figures there are very encouraging trends: offences against the person dropped by 30 per cent from 2,331 offences to 1,631 offences, attacks on the elderly, a despicable type of crime, fell by almost 90 per cent from 432 to 51, residential burglaries came down by 19 per cent from 18,774 to 15,160, unauthorised taking of cars dropped by 44 per cent from 18,735 to 10,521, larcenies from the person dropped by 23 per cent from 5,842 to 4,495——
For what years?
For 1984 to 1990. Deaths on the road were reduced by traffic law enforcement on an unprecedented scale and came down 25 per cent in the first quarter of this year from 122 to 90, and armed raids, which peaked at 685 in 1986, were down 33 per cent by 1990 to 459. This is positive statistical proof of the efforts we have made, the prioritising of resources and the commitment by the Garda Síochána to bringing criminals to justice.
Would the Minister not agree that this question refers to the sophisticated criminal who can use modern technology and computerisation? We are not talking about the old fashioned type of crime but about crimes such as commercial fraud which are being reported almost on a weekly basis. Huge sums of money can be transferred from businesses and companies in the semi-State sector as well as companies in the banking sector and our laws have not been updated to deal with this yuppie, sophisticated type of criminal. Obviously we are concerned about other types of crime, but there is also a need to deal with criminals of this kind. The gardaí cannot tackle the problem because the statutes are out of date.
I agree that there has been major change in the technological area. State companies, semi-State companies and Government Departments are bringing in modern technology. The Data Protection Act has been put in place and the impact of new technology is being appraised. We will bring forward legislation if we feel it is necessary.
