I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise this matter. I refer to a problem which is symptomatic of what has been happening in rural Ireland to an increasing extent over the past 12 months. Last Sunday evening in the little village of Straide, not far from Castlebar, at 8.30 in the evening three masked and armed men wearing balaclavas burst into a house which was occupied by a son and daughter of the householders, a girl aged 12 and a boy aged 15. The raiders tied these young people up amidst great terror, ransacked the house and made off with several thousand pounds.
A number of weeks ago a robbery occurred on the Westport Road in Castlebar where a retail premises was broken into at night and up to £10,000 worth of goods and cash was taken. It is obvious that criminals from large urban areas are travelling to remote and isolated areas in the country and are wreaking havoc and putting fear into young and old people alike. It is fair to say that in rural parts of Ireland, with the declining population due to emigration and people having to seek employment elsewhere, many elderly folk are living alone in terror, loneliness and isolation and they need protection.
Certain measures can be taken by the Minister and the Minister of State. Where gardaí are stationed in rural areas, there is a need for adequate transport and communication facilities. In the case of the robbery last Sunday, the nearest garda who was stationed in the village at Ballyvarry, three miles from Straide, had no transport at his disposal. Transport must be available between at least three to five rural stations which would allow gardaí to reach any point in a given area within a few minutes. Communication and information is the key to both the prevention and the detection of crimes such as these. This is a problem which must be addressed because people need the visibility of the Garda for protection.
I would like to the Minister of State to consider also the problem of bogus charity collectors and salesmen around the country. Where a licence or a permit is given to these people to collect money or sell goods in particular areas, such notice should be announced on the local radio on a daily basis giving the area where the collection or sale is to be held. That would at least inform people and allow those who are genuine to make their collections. The Minister of State will be aware that strangers knocking on doors in isolated parts of rural Ireland instill a sense of terror in people when they read and hear in the media the general reports of robbery and other crimes.
In the two cases to which I have referred, it is fortunate that nobody was shot, beaten up or molested. Those robberies have left a sense of terror and fear in peoples' minds and hearts. While the Garda at local level are doing the best they can to detect the culprits and bring them to justice, it is a broader issue than that. The Minister and the Department of Justice should ensure that facilities, such as transport and proper communications, are made available to gardaí on a general basis because intelligence, along with communications and transport, comprises the key to prevention and detection of dastardly crimes like these.
