The several recent high profile and brutal murders have shocked and appalled everyone. However, it must be remembered that many crimes are committed on a daily and nightly basis in every city, town and village. These include muggings, break-ins, robberies, burglaries and beatings and involve houses, shops, public houses, cars and property. Very often the criminals use knives, syringes and guns. The media probably regard this as small scale crime which is not necessarily newsworthy. Nevertheless many people now experience real fear about crime. I am referring in particular to vulnerable people, such as the elderly, women who live alone and wives whose husbands travel as part of their work.
Much of this crime is drugs related and is now estimated to be responsible for up to 80 per cent of all indictable offences. Drug barons are perceived to be beyond the scope of the law. Society as we have known it is under threat, and this is happening right under our noses. The threat is the drugs crisis. The Government, and to some extent the Oireachtas as a whole, is seen to be complacent.
Some people, however, accuse politicians of being hysterical in their response. We are ridiculed for seeming to promote a "hang 'em high" or "lock 'em up and throw away the key" policy. Such people are out of touch with reality. They seem more concerned with the rights of the criminal than with the rights of the victim.
Nearly all my neighbours have been robbed in recent times. Several of them were confronted with guns or knives. One neighbour, whom I know very well, a young mother, was beaten black and blue in her home two weeks ago for £10. Another neighbour ended up in Beaumont Hospital for the night having been stabbed in the head — that happened about a week ago. I can supply the names and addresses of these people if necessary.
A report which makes frightening reading was presented by the Garda Síochána to the Oireachtas Committee on the Family in October last year. It indicated that drugs have replaced terrorism as the number one threat to the security of the State, that arrests and prosecutions almost quadrupled between 1987 and 1994, that the Garda Síochána know of 11 drug related deaths in Dublin alone in 1995, that three fatal shootings are being linked to drug dealing and that Dublin has the worst heroin problem, the most affected areas being the inner city, Ballymun, Ballyfermot and Tallaght. Ecstasy is a fast growing problem in Cork with dealers there also supplying Limerick and Galway. These are the findings of a Garda report so let no one accuse me of being hysterical in my response. Criminals must be targeted by introducing rational and reasonable laws.
What are the people's expectations of society and Government? They are a roof over their heads, clothes on their back, food on the table, security and protection for their families. The State must protect its citizens.
This Bill is most welcome. It deals with the supply side of the drugs problem. This legislation was promised last summer by the Minister for Justice in a blaze of publicity. She promised to give the Garda Síochána, under supervision by the courts, the power to detain suspected drug traffickers for up to seven days with adequate safeguards in place. She promised to give Garda chief superintendents the power to issue search warrants in urgent drug related cases and she promised to give Customs officials the power to question persons whom they had arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking.
This Fianna Fáil Bill, introduced by Deputy John O'Donoghue, attempts to deal with those promises and more besides. It gives legislative effect to the three objectives announced — the abolition of the cumbersome system of preliminary examination of indictable offences as at present carried out in the District Court and its replacement, for drug trafficking offences, with a fast track system which guarantees a trial within 90 days of arrest and the updating of the unsatisfactory temporary release scheme. This would mean amending the Criminal Justice Act, 1984, and the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967. These are reasonable measures. One must wonder why those objectives have not been brought forward in the form of a Bill before now. I understand the Minister has agreed not to oppose the Fianna Fáil Private Members' Bill.
We must take into account the composition of the present Government to realise why there is paralysis when dealing with the criminal justice system generally. The Government is made up of three parties — Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left — and there is no agreed political philosophy on the issue of crime. There is, therefore, no political will to deal with serious crime. There are different philosophies within the Government and agreement cannot, therefore, be reached. Legislation can be brought forward only if there is consensus among three very different parties. Unfortunately, crime is an issue where the consensus approach, the lowest common denominator of agreement, will not work. We need radical measures to deal with this very real threat, the drugs crisis which is threatening the very fabric of our society. There cannot be consensus and the general public, unfortunately, are left to cope with the situation as the Government muddle through from day to day.
There is widespread public support for a tough response to drug barons in particular, the godfathers of drugs. If that means the temporary suspension of their civil liberties, so be it. Obviously a democratic society has to have adequate safeguards and anything Fianna Fáil has produced over the last year has incorporated that. I can assure the Minister for Justice — I think she knows it but, unfortunately, she cannot persuade her colleagues in Government — that there is widespread public support for tough decisive action, as demonstrated by MRBI public opinion polls. When the Minister made the announcement last July MRBI conducted an opinion poll which showed that about 90 per cent of those polled agreed with the Minister's proposals incorporated in this Bill.
The question of the reform of the bail laws, while not specifically dealt with under this legislation, is also an issue which is concentrating the public mind at present. Again, the issue is being looked at calmly and rationally. Nobody is being hysterical, it is strange that people have not been more vociferous until now in demanding action on crime. There are divisions in Government on the issue of the bail laws, although it must seem sensible to reasonable people to bring forward proposals to refuse bail if there is a probability that an accused person is likely to commit a crime while out on bail. I have no doubt that, if that were put to the people in a referendum, it would be accepted. The financial cost and the threat to civil liberties must be considered, but those issues can be dealt with.
We are dealing with a serious problem. There is huge public support for amending the law. Recent public comment by a former judge and by other commentators in last Sunday's newspapers indicates that we are becoming a banana republic by not providing adequate prison places. Obviously more prison accommodation will be required if we reform the law on bail. When notable people suggest that we are becoming a banana republic because we cannot accommodate the prison population, we must ask serious questions.
A ground swell from the grassroots in the community is demanding action on the drugs problem. In spite of the pressures of modern living, we still have a very strong sense of community, very active voluntary organisations and a sense of justice and fair play. Parents have woken up to what is happening in their communities. They see their children being exposed to drugs on the streets and to syringes on the pathways outside their doors. We have been complacent because we were never confronted by anything like this before. The Oireachtas and the Government will ignore this ground swell in public opinion at its peril. It is not too late to do something about the drugs and crime problems. We do not have to take the same route as other societies, in fact, we can learn from how they tackled this problem.
This ground swell of public opinion is not being reflected in the media as of yet and I am not sure it has filtered through to this House, but it will be evident at the next election that parents want action against drugs as they are no longer prepared to put up with the risk to life and security. I believe this issue will be the most important political force in the community. I am sure many Deputies, particularly from Dublin, have attended public meetings on the drugs issue. Deputy O'Donoghue and I attended a public meeting in the north inner city last July at which we witnessed anger which has not been experienced by the policy makers at this stage.
This is an emergency and we have to confront the crisis which poses a threat to our society. This is clam, reasonable and pragmatic legislation dealing with the drugs problem and I am happy the Government is not opposing its Second Reading.
