I wish to share my time with Deputy Finucane.
Criminal Law Conventions and Draft Regulations: Motions (Resumed).
Debate resumed on the following motions:
That Dáil Éireann approves the terms of the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime, done at Strasbourg on the 8th day of November, 1990, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on the 2nd day of July, 1996.
That Dáil Éireann approves the terms of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, done at Vienna on the 20th day of December, 1988, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on the 2nd day of July, 1996.
That Dáil Éireann approves the terms of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters done at Strasbourg on the 20th day of April, 1959, and the Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters done at Strasbourg on the 17th day of March, 1978, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on the 2nd day of July, 1996.
That Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft:
Criminal Justice Act, 1994 (Section 46 (6) Regulations, 1996.
a copy of which was laid in draft before Dáil Éireann on the 26th day of June, 1996.
—(Minister for Justice.)
Is that agreed? Agreed. The Minister must be called at 4.05 p.m. because she must have ten minutes to speak and the debate is to conclude at 4.15 p.m.
I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this matter. I had hoped the Minister for Justice, Deputy Owen, would be here because I wanted to congratulate her on introducing more legislation in this House to deal with the crime barons than any Government has done for the past 50 years. As a new Deputy in this House, I have not seen such attacks as those made on the Minister for Justice. Fianna Fáil was in Government for the past seven years but it did not build one prison. Its members tell us what a great party it has been for 70 years. It was in Government for 50 of those 70 years and now we are paying the price.
That is a load of rubbish.
Pictures of drugs barons appear in the newspapers every day. They are not young boys of 12, 13 or 14 years of age, but middle aged men. This has been going on for the past 20 years and Fianna Fáil response was to make them legal.
The past 18 months have been the worst in the history of the State with armed robberies and contract killings, which were never heard of before.
Fianna Fáil brought in a tax amnesty which legalised the activities of the drugs barons.
Deputy Callely, you must not interrupt the speaker.
When we tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister for Justice, she responded by saying there was no such thing as contract killings. I will argue all the way with the Deputy.
When Imelda Riney, her son and Fr. Walsh were killed in this State, Fine Gael did not attack the Government.
Deputy Callely knows he must listen. I will not tolerate any more of this behaviour.
The Deputy is inviting it by talking rubbish. Fine Gael should speak to its Labour and Democratic Left colleagues and then the Minister might be able to do something. She has been stopped from doing anything so far.
I ask the Deputy to refrain from interrupting.
Fianna Fáil hates the truth. The Deputy voted for the tax amnesty to legalise the activities of the General, the Monk and other drugs barons who laundered money in this State. They are now out of control and the Deputy expects this Government to deal with them. The Minister is dealing with them.
She has not done anything.
Fianna Fáil was in Government when Martin Cahill was involved in the gang war in this city, but did nothing about it.
Journalists were not killed when we were in office.
Men, women and children were killed.
I want to point to what the Minister has done since she came to office. We will not accept any more attacks by Deputy O'Donoghue and his Fianna Fáil colleagues on the best Minister for the past 50 years.
Dream on.
I say to the Minister "well done, keep up the good work". We will take the drugs barons out of action by proper legislation. They will be dealt with by this Government.
We will take from them the money the Deputies opposite gave them.
Let us have some dignity in the House.
Carlow-Kilkenny): Let Deputy Ring continue.
When Fine Gael was in Government in 1986 crime fell by 5.2 per cent and in 1987 it fell by a further 1.4 per cent, but as soon as Fianna Fáil came into Government crime escalated. One would think from the way that party acted for the past two weeks that there was never a crime problem in this State. Deputy O'Donoghue and his Fianna Fáil colleagues let crime get out of control and did not take on the drugs barons when they had the opportunity. They should stop making attacks on the best Minister we have had in this State. They should support her and help the Government. They may not want to take on the drugs barons, but we will take them on.
Is the Deputy accepting that there is organised crime in 1996? What happened between 1982 and 1986?
The Deputy should wait until I have finished.
Acting Chairman
Deputy Callely, please desist.
The Minister has even sent a special commissioner to deal with crime in the west. Deputies opposite talked about doing that, as they have talked about doing everything since they went out of Government. There is one place they hate to be — opposite us — but they will be there for a long time to come.
There is some chance of that.
Deputy Owen will be known as the Minister for Justice who brought back law and order to this State. I will be part of the next Government because since the day I was elected to this House I have outlined what we want done and the Minister has responded.
She has some record, 18 months of disaster.
The Deputies opposite do not like to hear the truth. I compliment the Minister for allocating the necessary resources to the Garda Síochána. A helicopter will be provided to assist in apprehending criminals. Other measures that have been provided include the setting up of closed circuit television systems and the provisions of drug treatment units. She has done more since she came into office than any Minister for the past 50 years. I was only getting started, but I wish to share the remainder of my time with Deputy Finucane.
We could see that. For medical reasons it is probably just as well Deputy Ring finished.
Give him a couple of tablets and a glass of water.
It is hard to follow Deputy Ring's spirited and accurate contribution.
It is far from accurate.
Probably no Minister has had so much unfair criticism as the Minister for Justice during the past few weeks. The Deputies opposite should study the legislation introduced since this Government came to power. They and the Progressive Democrats have some neck to criticise the Minister. If they analyse her performance to date and the package she has put together to counteract the criminal influence in our society, they will realise that she deserves praise rather than criticism.
What forced her to introduce those measures after 18 months of disaster?
I ask Deputy Callely to refrain.
What is the Government doing to address the problem?
What did the Deputy's party do for eight years?
Crime is a national problem and we should consider it as a national issue. If Fianna Fáil can bring forward legislation with certain good aspects or the Progressive Democrats table good amendments, we should work together to tackle this problem and forget about this sniping and partisanship. The people outside this House do not want that and Deputies opposite will shortly realise that. The people want a constructive approach and that is what the Government will continue to adopt. It will not be put off by the sniping opportunistic methods adopted by the likes of Deputy Callely and other members of his party.
I wish to raise a matter that is important to me as a rural Deputy and is indicative of the Minister's performance in her portfolio. She is prepared to open up smaller Garda stations and she has done that in Kilmeedy in my constituency. Many of those small stations were closed by the previous Government.
All the former Minister for Justice did was transfer the gardaí.
What about the Fine Gael chairman? He bashed his Government party colleagues.
Interruptions.)
Come down off the clouds, be realistic, be pragmatic.
Acting Chairman
Please desist, Deputy Callely. On a discussion on law and order, this is a shambles. Deputy Callely is out of order and he insists on interrupting.
I am being invited to interrupt.
Acting Chairman
The Minister has agreed to share part of her time with Deputy McGinley.
I thank the Minister for sharing her time with me. As a Deputy representing a Border county, I wish to refer specifically to the difficulties experienced by people in Border counties, particularly in my constituency. Statistics illustrate the extent of the drugs problem there. In 1986 in Donegal two cases of drug abuse were detected and brought to court, compared to almost 400 in 1995.
Who was in Government?
I am not going into that. We will let Members make up their minds on that. This problem did not happen overnight or last year. I welcome the package of measures introduced and I ask the Minister of State to convey my request to the Minister for Justice that when additional financial resources and personnel are made available special attention should be given to border areas.
I thank the Deputies for contributing to this debate. If we are to have a rational solution to this problem, we should have an ordered debate during which we can listen to each other.
Regarding comments made about different elements of the Government, this is a coalition Government made up of three parties which bring their traditions and perspectives to Government. Last month Deputy Burke had to dissociate himself from comments made by Deputy Callely. Perhaps Deputy Callely will listen now.
He did not dissociate himself from remarks I made. The Minister of State in wrong about that.
Acting Chairman
Deputy Callely has interrupted every speaker.
The Minister of State is encouraging and inviting me to interrupt.
Acting Chairman
She is not encuraging the Deputy. He is supposed to control himself.
I do.
Acting Chairman
The Deputy is exercising very poor control at the moment and can leave if he wishes.
It is not a requirement for elected office.
Mr. Bruton
Our concern regarding justice matters and drugs, in particular, is that we deal with crime and its causes. Anyone who says that the solution lies only in law is misleading the people. There is a necessity for strong and improved law, but there is an equal necessity to stop young people creating a demand for the supply of drugs. We must educate our young people in this area. The crash education programme announced today by my colleague, the Minister for Education, to address the problem of the high demand for drugs by young people in disadvantaged areas is as important as the package of initiatives announced by the Government to provide additional gardaí and prison spaces. I remind Deputies on the Opposition benches that unprecedented numbers of extra prison spaces will be provided in the next three years. If we are to have a fair debate, due recognition must be given to that.
The Labour Party has focused on the need to set up a special squad to deal with drug-related crime, along the lines of other successful special squads in the Garda. Four hundred extra prison places could be provided tomorrow but, without the capacity to get convictions — we witnessed the collapse of one court case last week — those additional places will mean nothing. We need a special, dedicated group. There have been other parallels within the Garda Síochána, such as the Special Response Unit which, for the most part, successfully contained the threat to the security of this State by the IRA. It will clearly be seen there are precedents here and elsewhere.
There is need also to review the operactions, management, priorities and policies of the Garda. Our taxpayers will be asked and, I predict, will willingly contribute large amounts of taxation to fund these proposed initiatives. The money must be spent wisely and effectively. We must examine the management, priorities and policies of the Garda to ensure its best usage and maximum response to the current crisis.
With regard to the international conventions to which we are acceding today, including that in relation to money laundering, in the course of this debate, Members tended to concentrate on the Irish dimension in the wake of the awful murders of Detective Garda McCabe and Veronica Guerin. This problem must be tackled not just internally but at European and international level.
To press home this point, I might give an example. Poor Third World countries, either totally repressed or near collapse, such as Burma, Afghanistan or Nigeria are at the heart of the serious worldwide drugs trade. Without concerted international action to restrict the worldwide supply of drugs our efforts may meet with some degree of success but, in the long-term, will not adequately tackle or resolve this huge problem.
It must be acknowledged that, this country, is being targeted nor merely by Irish drugs barons — small fry in terms of the international drugs trade — but by international drugs barons and that our coastline is being used for transit purposes and for the creation of a market for drugs here. This means we must co-operate with other European countries and United Nations institutions in an effective international response to this evil trade.
We must also address the drugs problem in South America, in countries like Columbia and Peru and the question of providing alternative sources of income for farmers in certain regions who cultivate cocoa for cocaine, a major revenue producer for them. The regimes in Burma and Nigeria, to say the very least, have not honoured their responsibilities. One need only look to Burma, and the golden triangle from where so much heroin originates, or Afganistan, another major source of heroin for this country. I am glad all parties in this House support these conventions to allow us participate effectively in the international fight against drugs.
I will refer to another matter of enormous importance particularly to those Members representing the South and South West. We have a unique, long coastline with many inlets and bays which makes the country an attractive transit point. The European Union can and must assist us, within the context of a European-wide approach to tackling this problem. While we can tackle the problem internally, we need the support of our European Union counterparts. The recent development of the transatlantic alliance between the United States and the European Union, allied to specific co-operation in tackling the drugs problem will be effective in tackling this scourge confronting us.