Organised Crime: Statements

Minister for Justice (Deputy Simon Harris)

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to discuss the impact of gangland and organised crime on communities across the country. It is a timely discussion as the Government sets to introduce tougher laws to further support An Garda Síochána in taking on the gangs that try to inflict misery on communities.

I am pleased to report that significant progress has been made by An Garda Síochána in the past decade in dismantling organised crime. Since 2015, more than 1,300 people have been arrested and €324 million of drugs seized and, since spring 2016, 80 interventions have been made by An Garda Síochána in the context of threats to life. While we should not underestimate the difficulties the Garda faces in tackling organised crime activity, we continue to see the significant results of its efforts in the arrests made and the people brought before the courts, both here and, importantly, in other jurisdictions, as well as the ongoing drugs and firearms seizures. This is commendable work and the Government will continue to support An Garda Síochána in its efforts.

All present are aware of the judgments of the Special Criminal Court on Monday. Although there may be a significant focus on one of the court’s decisions, it is important that we acknowledge the convictions of two other people for facilitating the brutal and callous attack in the Regency Hotel in 2016. The events and murder on that day remain the subject of a live investigation and I do not wish to say anything to interfere with that painstaking work by An Garda Síochána. I do, however, want to send out a very strong message: justice always prevails. The criminal gangs causing fear, violence and murder across this country can run and they can try to hide but An Garda Síochána will never stop pursuing and dismantling them. Crucially, that pursuit does not and will not stop at the country's borders.

I am proud to state that An Garda Síochána has built law enforcement coalitions across the world. Just as these criminals seek to operate across countries and continents, leaving misery and pain everywhere they go, An Garda Síochána has built alliances with colleagues in the UK, United States, Europe and South America, as well as with its partners in Interpol and Europol. These gangs have been left under no illusion. Wherever they try to go, we will follow. We will be there and justice will follow. That is why the Government has supported An Garda Síochána in establishing a powerful international network of Garda liaison officers in Madrid, Paris, London, the Hague, Washington D.C., Bogota, Abu Dhabi and Bangkok. I am pleased to confirm to the House that there are more locations to come. These Garda liaison officers are crucial in building alliances that are vital in the modern era of fighting what is clearly transnational crime. I thank and pay tribute to the members of An Garda Síochána serving in these roles abroad, as well as to their families.

As legislators, we will and must always do our part in equipping An Garda Síochána with the tools it needs to end the chokehold these gangs try to exert on families, communities and individuals in Ireland. A major priority shared by Members across the House must be to ensure we prevent the next generation from being used as pawns and runners in the criminal underworld. Children are being exploited by these criminals. Kids are being deceived by criminal networks into believing crime can bring wealth, bling and a party lifestyle but, in reality, it brings death, fear, debt and much more. Later this year, the Oireachtas will move - I hope to have cross-party support on this - to outlaw the grooming of children into crime by making it an offence for an adult to compel, coerce, direct or deceive a child for the purpose of engaging in criminal activity or for an adult to induce, invite, aid, abet, counsel or procure a child to engage in criminal activity. This law will help to disrupt the ruthless pursuit of kids and teenagers by criminal networks.

We will and must do much more than that, however. We will hit these organised crime gangs in the only place that seems to matter to them - their pockets. Since its inception, the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, has been a world leader in seizing the ill-gotten gains of criminals. The major decision to establish CAB has been incredibly successful. The bureau has been at the forefront of fighting organised crime in this country and disrupting the activities of criminal gangs by depriving them of their ill-gotten gains. More than €200 million has been returned to the Exchequer and the taxpayers of this country since 1996 as a result of its efforts. CAB has been recognised internationally by law enforcement agencies in the context of investigations, tracing and forfeiture. I want to ensure it remains a world leader. One can never stand still or become complacent because the criminals always try to get ahead. That is why I intend to publish legislation in the coming weeks to reform CAB and strengthen it further. We will bring forward a law that will give new powers to CAB to restrict criminals from thwarting the work of the bureau through vexatious court challenges. Let us be honest. What we are now seeing from criminals and ruthless leaders of organised gangs is that they try to continue to enjoy their assets - to live in the mansion and drive around in the flashy car - for lengthy periods by using delaying tactics and repeatedly taking vexatious cases to the court, all while enjoying the benefit of those ill-gotten gains. That cannot happen any more. It must stop and we need to change the law to make sure that it does. The new measures we will bring forward will automatically appoint a receiver to a property or other asset when a decision is made that the asset is a proceed of crime, pending the final disposal order. The receiver will get control of the mansion or other property while the final disposal order is being worked through the legal process.

We take the property and the asset off the criminal and ensure it is managed by the receiver and will not be available for use by the person being pursued by CAB during this period, which has lasted up to seven years. This will help to deprive criminals continuing to use the proceeds of crime.

I will include these measures in the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2023. This legislation will also include plans to reduce the period that must normally elapse before criminal proceeds may be confiscated following a court decision that an asset is a proceed of crime from seven years to two years; grant further powers to CAB to allow it to more effectively and efficiently share information with other State agencies and with law enforcement in other jurisdictions; and grant anonymity to former non-Garda bureau officers, other former bureau staff, experts from regulatory or investigative bodies, or independent experts such as financial analysts who are occasionally contracted by the bureau when called upon to give evidence at the proceeds of crime hearings.

CAB now operates in communities across our country. An important part of CAB's remit is its network of divisional asset profilers who are trained by the bureau and tasked locally with preparing asset profiles on local criminals and referring them back to CAB. It is vital that everyone sees and knows that crime does not pay and that we modernise the law around CAB to ensure it has the tools to keep ahead of the criminals and gangs and get the money and value of property that has been ill-gotten through crime back from the criminal and into our State coffers in order that we can start spending it on public services and all the other fine and important things we regularly discuss in this House.

This principle of ensuring that crime does not pay is at the heart of our new community safety innovation fund. As colleagues will know, this is a fund that reinvests the proceeds of crime seized by CAB in local projects to help improve community safety. It will take the money off the criminals, put it into an innovation fund and give it to a community to support it and help make it safer. Last year, a total of €2 million was granted through that fund to 22 projects across the country. From 2023, the figure will be €3 million. Along with the new community safety partnerships and community safety plans, it is central to our collective commitment to build stronger, safer communities. Applications for the 2023 fund are now open and I encourage interested communities and groups to apply.

At the centre of our goal of building stronger, safer communities and tackling organised crime has to be a bigger and stronger An Garda Síochána. The Government is committed to ensuring the Garda has the resources it needs to fight crime, with record funding of €2.14 billion allocated to the Garda Vote. This includes provision for the recruitment of up to 1,000 additional Garda members and 400 additional Garda staff over the course of 2023. Since the Garda College in Templemore reopened in 2015, we have seen a steady increase in Garda numbers. As of the end of March 2023, there were 14,036 Garda members, an increase of almost 10% since 2015 when there were 12,816 Garda members. Commissioner Harris and I have been clear that we do not see our commitment to have 15,000 Garda members as a limit. We want to reach that target and push on further. We are now back in a phase of sustained, steady recruitment, including our most recent recruitment campaign which closed just last week. As the recruitment campaign stated, being a member of An Garda Síochána is a tough job. We must acknowledge that and we must never forget the risks the men and women of An Garda Síochána face in protecting us. However, it is an impactful job and one that is worth doing and makes a difference. I believe that interest in joining An Garda Síochána remains strong and I hope to be in a position to outline details of the number of applications received through the latest campaign very shortly.

Covid-19 presented difficulties and I am aware that people do not want to speak about Covid again. While I understand that, this is an important point to make because it resulted in the Garda College being closed a number of times. We are now back at the point where a steady stream of recruits is entering the Garda College every 11 weeks. We intend running that annual recruitment campaign and getting back into an annual cycle of recruitment and constant inflow of new recruits to the Garda College.

The resources allocated to the Garda in recent years have enabled the Commissioner to assign extra resources to our specialist units involved in tackling organised crime, including the armed support unit, the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and CAB. As we push on into An Garda Síochána’s second century, a bigger Garda, with more Garda staff freeing up front-line gardaí for core policing duties, will further strengthen its bond with our communities. This will be strengthened through the new community policing structures, with community policing teams serving local people.

The challenges of modern policing mean we must move forward with specialist units in areas such as cybercrime, domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, drugs, organised crime, as well as many others. These units have been central to the many successes of An Garda Síochána in recent years, particularly in the area of organised crime. We will complement these great successes with a strengthened community policing service. Every single day, criminal gangs are adapting their behaviour to escape the glare of An Garda Síochána. That is why it is essential we stand shoulder to shoulder with gardaí and equip them with the tools and the technology they need.

Shortly, as Members will be aware, this House will be called on to renew the Offences Against the State Act and the Special Criminal Court. Sadly, there are political parties in this House, some of which aspire to be in government, which abscond when it comes to taking this tough decision on an annual basis. They walk out or abstain but now is the time for clarity on these matters. This week, we have seen a Special Criminal Court working and carrying out its duties. Those who doubt its role in the criminal justice system need to be scrutinised on what their alternative is. As Minister for Justice, I believe there are trials which would not have successfully taken place before the Special Criminal Court had some parties in this House been in government. I also believe that if the Special Criminal Court did not exist, those parties in government would have exposed men and women on juries in gangland and paramilitary trials into the direct eye line of criminal gangs and subversives. That would put people at risk and weaken our criminal justice system. It is essential that this House, in a few weeks' time, reaffirm its support for the Special Criminal Court and people clarify their positions in this regard.

I also wish to comment in my other Government capacity as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. A key part of this is supporting communities. I spoke about how we need to take our children from the clutches of criminal gangs and pass criminal justice legislation on tackling the grooming of children. I spoke of children being convinced that there is some sort of glamorous life associated with crime rather than one of debt, death and fear. We also need to ensure we support these communities, a view I know we all share. The community safety innovation fund is one way of taking money from criminals and putting it into communities. The work led by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, in youth diversion and many other youth justice projects is key to this. So too is ensuring that every child and adult has an opportunity to access education, upskill and reskill. That is why, in the capital city alone, we have invested millions of euro in establishing the new Technological University Dublin in the heart of inner-city Dublin, with plans to expand its reach directly into Cabra. In Limerick, a city which once knew all about warring criminal gangs, we have invested in the new Technological University of the Shannon. This has allowed Limerick to develop into a busy, popular place and a hive of industry, innovation and opportunity for thousands of students from across this country.

These important investments must show that there is no place out of reach for any young person, no matter what their background is or what their mum and dad did before them, to access education, or employment. There is no greater leveller than education. It is the greatest weapon in the world. Together with tougher laws, education is the key to ending the cycle of crime and deprivation and taking communities back from organised crime. I am excited about working in my current dual role, with the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, during 2023 to see what more we can do on prison education and educational opportunities for the children of prisoners and in disadvantaged communities.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I know that this House stands four-square behind An Garda Síochána in its excellent ongoing work in tackling organised crime and dismantling gangs.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice (Deputy James Browne)

I am grateful for the invitation to inform the House of the legislative and policy developments to tackle gangland crime and alleviate the impacts such crime is having on our communities. I acknowledge An Garda Síochána which is doing extremely effective work in cracking down on gangland crime in its relentless bid to tackle these gangs at the top of the criminal world in Ireland and abroad. I very much want to acknowledge the bravery and hard work of gardaí. From our perspective, we will continue to provide An Garda Síochána with the resources it needs to tackle gangland and organised crime.

Gangland and organised crime is transnational in nature and can have grave effects on societies, states and communities. It is well documented that organised crime is becoming increasingly profitable, professional and multi-jurisdictional. Recent measures taken to tackle organised crime include the establishment of a second Special Criminal Court in 2016 and the establishment of Garda armed response units in all Garda regions supporting all divisions countrywide.

We must continue to strengthen our resolve by introducing further legislation and developing specific strategies.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, referred to forthcoming legislation and actions in Justice Plan 2023 relating to organised crime. As Minister of State for law reform, I can assure the House that, in the coming year, we will keep our national security legislation under review, strengthen measures to tackle terrorism through domestic action and international co-operation, draft legislation to strengthen our laws around cybercrime, and progress legislation to deal with the retention of data for criminal enforcement purposes.

An important Bill I very much welcome progressing is the Criminal Justice (Engagement of Children in Criminal Activity) Bill 2023, which is designed to fulfil programme for Government commitments to "legislate against the coercion and use of minors in the sale and supply of drugs" and to "criminalise adults who groom children to commit crimes." In addition to the new legislation, pilot applications of the Greentown programme commenced in 2020, based on my Department's report Lifting the Lid on Greentown, produced in partnership with the University of Limerick. The programme is currently being operated in two locations and is having a positive impact in helping children and their families to break away from the coercion of criminal gangs who are exploiting them.

Crime does not pay but young people are being exploited. We want to ensure they are prevented from getting involved in crime and that if they do, they are identified and supported in breaking away from it and from gangs. We want to ensure that the groomers are targeted and that their ill-gotten gains are taken from them so as to protect the young people. It is also to protect the communities and make them safer.

Criminal gangs can also be involved in crimes that may also be referred to as antisocial behaviour. The impact of antisocial behaviour is well recognised and is highlighted in the ongoing work of the expert forum on antisocial behaviour, which I am pleased to chair. The forum is examining a broad range of issues, with a focus on developing measures that will address the factors that give rise to antisocial behaviour and its impact on community morale and quality of life.

I have convened three subgroups to consider the specific issues of knife crime, the misuse of scramblers and quad bikes, and the responses to the impact of antisocial behaviour on housing complexes managed by approved housing bodies. Specific strategies have been developed in the Department to improve community safety. The rural safety plan, for example, is the result of strong collaboration between all the relevant organisations and brings together the excellent work already under way on rural safety. The vision of the plan is to ensure people and communities in rural Ireland will feel and be safe in their homes, places of work and local environments.

The objectives in the Youth Justice Strategy 2021–2027 are premised on the need to maximise opportunities to promote positive behavioural change. The strategy includes a wide range of issues relevant to children and young people at risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system. I am glad significant additional funding has been devoted to the youth justice strategy in the past two years.

Deputy Pa Daly

It is a reality in this State that crime and antisocial behaviour disproportionately affect communities with high deprivation and those where economic opportunities are most scarce. It is the decent, hard-working people who live in these communities who bear the brunt of the failure of successive Governments to bring criminals and organised gangs to justice.

I realise these statements are on organised crime but let us consider for a comment the impact on some communities. Apart from the fact that they must deal with antisocial behaviour and drug-related violence, there are up to 15,000 heroin users in Dublin alone, with one drug advisory and treatment centre. Between 2004 and 2017, there were 8,995 drug-related deaths in this State, the highest rate of deaths between the ages of 16 and 64 in Europe. In Ireland, there are nearly 20,000 opiate users, many of whom are living chaotic, hopeless lives around this city centre, within a mile or two of this building.

Speaking not just as a Sinn Féin Deputy but also as someone with some experience of the workings of the criminal justice system, I know the Garda and the courts are, as matters stand, ill equipped to tackle the scourge of crime and the impact of drug-related crime in our communities.

There are several gaping holes when it comes to our defences against organised crime. The first and most glaring concerns the resources afforded to An Garda Síochána. Garda retention and recruitment are in a state of crisis. With Garda numbers consistently hovering around 14,500 for the past decade, the number of officers per capita has fallen consistently, despite the population growth during the same period. Large numbers are leaving An Garda Síochána year after year. In fact, last year saw a record number leaving. They are resigning rather than retiring. This is a direct consequence of many factors, but gardaí tell me there is low morale, affected by a two-tier pay system, poor pay and conditions, increasing bureaucracy and a lack of imagination in reforming the training regime to ensure we put more gardaí on our streets to tackle criminals. Our gardaí work bravely day in and day out to serve communities and keep them safe, often in very difficult circumstances.

Gardaí have my full support. Having spoken to some of them recently, I learned they feel badly let down by the failure of the current and previous Governments to give them the support and leadership they need to get on with their jobs. One garda felt no one has the back of gardaí any more. These issues have been well flagged, of course. Year after year, we see big Garda recruitment numbers announced at budget time but what is never said is that these targets are not met.

The first thing Sinn Féin would do to address this situation would be to initiate a large Garda recruitment drive – one of the largest in the history of the State – with the goal of reaching 1,600 Garda recruits every year. Gardaí tell me the target of 1,000 additional gardaí this year will not be met. There are simply not enough trainees in Templemore. There have not been enough in the first three months of this year in any event. That is the scale of the ambition we require. We want to have a Minister for Justice who delivers on that because it is what our communities need and deserve.

We can do it by introducing a hybrid training model for new gardaí that would see recruits train in Templemore and local Garda stations. This would boost capacity and ensure under-recruitment finally ends. It would also increase the Garda presence in the areas that need to see officers out in local communities and help gardaí to eliminate the fear of crime as well as eliminate crime and its causes.

The reality of 21st-century organised crime is that more technical experts, including cyber experts, are needed to serve in specialist units within the Garda. The recruitment of people with these skills must be a priority. We need to engage with the Garda to identify and address the challenges in recruitment to ensure the best people are recruited for the jobs and can stay in the organisation to build on their experience.

The failure to establish a dedicated Garda public transport unit is a major black mark on this Government's record. The disgraceful scenes we see on public transport have no place in our society. They must be stamped out. I fully support the establishment of a dedicated unit.

The ongoing discussions around Garda rosters must be addressed and a survey of members must be conducted to help to address retention issues. That this has not been completed is a testament to the Government's inability to plan and address problems before they become crises. We see this in housing and health, and we also see it in policing. It is not good enough. Along with having more gardaí on the front line, An Garda Síochána and the courts must have all the powers they need to dismantle criminal gangs and criminal networks.

Criminal proceeds are laundered, and banks and other institutions play a role in facilitating this. Since this Government came into office in 2020, it has failed to enact legislative measures to deal with this reality in a timely and speedy fashion. Bills on counterfeiting and money laundering were delayed, including through breaking EU-mandated implementation deadlines. This is unacceptable.

Gangs have become increasingly sophisticated, and some of them work in co-operation rather than in competition with each other. The more pressure that is placed on these gangs, the better in order to break them up and ensure they are eradicated. That requires safe levels of gardaí on our streets and gardaí with the resources they need to police the criminals. Courts must be equipped to prosecute them.

In 2021, Sinn Féin introduced the Proceeds of Crime (Investment in Disadvantaged Communities) Bill, which allows for the reinvestment of CAB seizures into the communities most affected by organised crime, in order to alleviate the impact of organised crime and drug use in those areas. This would tackle the root causes and prevent young people from being lured into a life of criminality. Our courts, too, need to have all the powers and resources they need to fight 21st-century criminals.

Every year, Fine Gael makes a virtue of renewing 50-year-old legislation, when everyone accepts this is an outdated means of dealing with the criminals of 2023.

I commend Deputy Martin Kenny and the Minister for Justice in the previous Administration, Charlie Flanagan, for ensuring that a review of these laws is finally initiated. There is an ongoing review due to report soon to update laws in this regard that the Taoiseach said on Tuesday will report soon. We anticipate that its recommendations will include modernisation and we expect to support the new legislation that will recommend dismantling criminal gangs robustly. That is what is needed because despite the rhetoric, and we have heard plenty of it here today, people tell us that this Government is hard on An Garda Síochána and soft on crime.

This has left communities at the mercy of criminals and antisocial behaviour. These communities are wary about walking the streets at night, are terrified in their own homes, fear for their families’ safety and feel unsafe and abandoned. Under this Government, An Garda Síochána is underfunded and overstretched. Under a Sinn Féin Government, that will change. We will recruit the gardaí we need, give them the powers they require and give the courts the means to put criminals where they belong by taking them off our streets and putting them in jail. We will ensure that communities can feel safe and protected, as they deserve.

Deputy Mark Ward

I welcome the opportunity to discuss organised crime. This form of crime causes terror, misery and heartbreak for communities that deserve to feel safe and protected. We must stand united against all forms of crime and ensure it is finally tackled once and for all.

I am also glad that the Government climbed down and changed the title of this debate from statements on gangland to statements on organised crime. This is more than semantics. Governments must not be allowed to dehumanise our communities. I did a quick Google Maps search for "gangland" today and guess what? It does not exist. Perhaps the Minister can give me the eircode. My area is not gangland but I am not naïve enough to think it is not devastated by organised crime. Let me be clear. Gangs do not run my area. I will tell you who does run it. It is the man who goes out and sweeps his road. It is the woman who checks on her elderly neighbour. It is the countless community groups like Tidy Towns, the local sports clubs, the majorettes, the youth workers, the addiction services, the intercultural centres and the volunteer groups. It is the ordinary workers and families who run our communities, not gangs. I recognise this, Sinn Féin recognises this and it is about time the Government recognised our communities.

I grew up in north Clondalkin. Parts of my community have been ripped apart by organised crime over the years. These are communities that feel abandoned by the Government. It is no coincidence that some of the most disadvantaged communities are those most affected by crime. Years of cuts and stagnation in funding for community-based services by Fine Gael have eroded community resilience. This is a deliberate ploy by Government, which sees a strong resourced community as a threat to the status quo. Sinn Féin sees the opposite. We see a strong community as an ally in building a fairer and just society for all.

Sinn Féin has always advocated for any money seized by CAB to be put back into communities to build resilience and enhance community services. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I welcome the fact that the Government has copied my Bill to return the money seized by CAB to disadvantaged communities. Deputy Ó Snodaigh first proposed this over a decade ago. Because we have a Fine Gael Minister for Justice, it does not go as far as it should. Not one group in my area, parts of which are among the most disadvantaged in the State, received any of this funding this year despite numerous groups applying for it.

Fine Gael, which is the so-called party of law and order, has left our communities vulnerable to criminality. Fine Gael has held the justice ministry for over a decade. I want to be clear. Our gardaí do incredible and brave work every day serving our front line in awful and difficult situations and I meet them on a regular basis. They are being let down by the Government, which refuses to give them the staffing levels and resources they need and deserve. The Dublin metropolitan region has lost a total of 757 gardaí since 2009. This has left our communities vulnerable and feeling abandoned to criminal activities.

The people involved in this criminal activity seem to operate with relative impunity and it is not good enough. There is a real sense of fear and abandonment within our communities. Residents report a lack of police presence in our areas, particularly at night time. The dogs in the street know the hot spots in my area. In fairness to the gardaí, they do react and call out to these areas but they do not have the resources for a sustained presence that will have a real impact on these hot spots. As soon as their backs are turned, these people go back to the criminal activities they were engaged in before the gardaí arrived.

We have all seen the documentaries about the supposedly glamorous lifestyle of these criminals with fast cars, big houses and flash lifestyles. There are young people in my area and throughout the rest of the State who are attracted by this lifestyle. They are being manipulated. They want the money in their pockets, the brand new jackets and runners and the status of being a somebody but these criminals are absolute nobodies. Sinn Féin's Bill - the Coercion of a Minor (Misuse of Drugs Amendment) Bill - would help address this. If the Government could invest properly in the communities in which these young people live, it could broaden their horizons and give them better options to escape poverty. Poverty underpins criminality but Fine Gael policies underpin poverty.

Most things in life have a way of filtering down but dirty money also filters up. I have met parents who have been forced to pay drug-related debt their children accumulated. These debts their children apparently owe these unscrupulous dealers are frequently exaggerated and parents end up paying exorbitant amounts back to these dealers for fear of reprisal. The money a mother borrows from a credit union to pay the drug debts of her child flows up to organised criminals, including white-collar criminals. To me, there is no difference between a drug dealer in a tracksuit and a businessman in a flash suit who launders dirty money. Successive governments have been too lenient on white-collar crime. In government, Sinn Féin will resource our communities and gardaí, make our communities safe again and target crime at every single level.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution to this debate. After 12 years in government, it is clear that Fine Gael is soft on crime. Through its lack of leadership and the lack of funding and resources for An Garda Síochána, organised crime has been allowed to spiral and devastate countless communities. The Government has presided over a continued deterioration in the numbers of gardaí in the State, although I grant that it was begun by Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael had no problem paying bankers and bond holders but then closed the Garda Training College in Templemore, a catastrophic decision from which Garda numbers still have not recovered.

Communities deserve to feel safe and protected yet too many live in the shadow of this shameful thuggery. They want to know that An Garda Síochána can protect them but they have seen the force run into the ground by Fine Gael and they worry that when they call for help, it simply will not come.

I was born in Ballyfermot and lived in Crumlin for 17 years. It is where we brought up our daughter. Both of these areas have suffered heavily from the scourge of organised crime gangs but they are not ganglands. They are full of ordinary working people who need to be able to feel safe in their homes, on their streets and in their communities. The term "gangland" is used all too often by Government representatives. It is offensive. If anyone in this House is contemplating using that term, I would tell him or her that it is offensive to the hard-working and decent people who are forced to put up with the scourge of organised crime gangs destroying their communities.

These are ordinary people who want their children to grow up in a community without the fear that they will be groomed into organised criminal gangs. They totally reject these gangs and want to see them gone. I have seen at first hand young people I knew well who were enticed by the manipulation of these criminals to join them. Slowly but surely they got deeper and deeper into these gangs. Sadly some of them never even saw their 20th birthday. No family should ever go through the heartbreak of seeing their child full of hope and promise slip into the grip of these thugs.

No mam should ever have to see their child so full of potential slip away into these organised crime gangs.

The solution to this is complex. It will take a concerted effort by everyone to ensure no more young people are sucked into these criminal gangs. We must tackle this issue from all angles and defeat it together with a united front and a determination to end all organised crime. We need to ensure all children have full access to education, social care, mental health services and health services. We need to end endemic poverty and disadvantage in many of the communities that some people like to demonise. We need to restore vital community and youth services that the Government has stripped out. We need a fully resourced Garda service that can tackle these organised crime gangs from the mid-level right up to the top. There are not enough gardaí on the streets. Too many stations are either shut or only open for a few hours a day. The population in my constituency of Dublin Fingal continues to grow in areas like Balbriggan, Lusk and Swords, and further massive increases are predicted in the coming years. The Dublin metropolitan area has already seen a 14% increase in its population but a reduction of 18% in the number of gardaí. People report crimes only to be told that no station is open or no gardaí are available. That is an experience that has been relayed to me by constituents on many occasions. I want to pay tribute to the gardaí who work hard in my constituency and all over this State. They are trying their best but they are struggling with limited resources. They tell us all the time - the Minister talks to them and he will know - that if they had more resources, they believe they could do more but they do not feel they are fully and properly resourced.

It is time for Fine Gael to step up and finally show leadership on tackling organised crime. It is time to resource the gardaí so that they can do their jobs properly and safely. We need to see the biggest Garda recruitment drive in the history of the State with a goal of reaching 1,600 recruits each year. That would get gardaí back onto the streets to protect communities and get to grips with these appalling crime gangs. Communities deserve better; they deserve to feel safe and protected. The Government must show leadership on ending organised crime now.

Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Unfortunately, when a murder happens, for too many people it is just something they see on the news and there is not really the horror or disgust that should happen when somebody’s life is lost in a particular location or address. It is something that people might raise their eyebrows at; they might see it on the news and move on. If you live in, work in or care about a community where a murder takes place, the consequences are devastating. The idea that a child going to school should get used to Garda tape being around a murder scene would fill any of us with horror but far too many of our children, in many of our constituencies, get used to going to school passing by a scene of a murder. What happens after that is that teachers in schools and community and youth workers have to deal with the consequences of that murder: the relatives who are justifiably upset, the funeral and the tension around that and the psychological impact that has on the entire community. Then there is the feeling of why is this perceived to be so normal. Where is the outrage from wider society that someone has just been shot dead in their area? Sometimes it might have been at the heart of a feud. Many of us have worked through those scenarios. I remember being a schoolteacher when there was a murderous feud in the area where I was proud to serve as a teacher and as a local representative. There was a 24-hour armed Garda presence on the street. You begin to wonder why it is perceived to be normal or permissible and why anywhere else in this country it just would not be allowed to happen.

It has been said that the term “gangland” has become almost acceptable. It is almost common usage. It is a victim-blaming approach. It says: this is what they do; sure, they are only killing each other. Their lives are just not as important. If such a murder or killing takes place in an area that we might describe as “gangland”, then that is just not as important as anywhere else in the State. I know what it is like to go to those funerals and what it is like to deal with those children who have to deal with the aftereffects of losing somebody they love to violence. If you lose somebody you love to violence, it is not something you can ever really get over.

Why is it that so many people are attracted to this lifestyle? We can all come in here and make speeches about Garda numbers and more law and justice measures, but why is it that so many young people, especially so many young men, are eager to take the place of somebody who has just been shot dead? The reason is that it is lucrative and glamorous, you do not need a qualification to enter into the business and you get respect. Far too many people in these communities do not get respect. They do not feel respect from society, the media, politics, the gardaí or the teaching profession. They do not feel fundamentally that they are equal and respected or that if they try to maximise their potential in the mainstream economy and society, they will get as far. The statistics will probably show that they are right. Meanwhile there is a parallel economy that does not ask for qualifications or entry criteria, offers easy money and glamour, and may even hand you a gun.

I will give the Minister a few statistics. I am glad he mentioned education. Anyone who has heard me speak on this issue before will have heard me talk about the two three-year-olds. According to the 1995 Hart and Risley report, a three-year-old from a disadvantaged background has 400 words in their vocabulary, whereas a three-year-old from a more advantaged background has 1,200 words. One three-year-old has 400 words and the other has 1,200. Does anyone expect the education system to be able to lift the first child to the ability level of the other, or that the experience they have in the education system will have the same results? Of course it will not. What fills the gap for this three-year-old if we are not careful? It is filled by the empowerment that this parallel economy is going to give this child, potentially. In America, where they have commercialised the prison system, they can predict from a very cold, capitalistic viewpoint how many cells and what capacity they will need in 15 years' time. They calculate that by looking at the literacy rates of ten-year-olds. In any jurisdiction where they have privatised the prison service, they know by looking at the literacy rates of ten-year-olds pretty much what prison capacity they will need in 15 years time. That is what they do. This is the breeding ground for organised crime.

We can put a garda on every corner and introduce every piece of legislation, and we can talk tough in these Houses, but as long as we have this level of educational disadvantage and discrimination we are still providing a breeding ground for this life because it is so lucrative, it is so empowering and you get respect from it. Our prisons are full of people who got involved in it for one reason or another. We had 1,000 prisoners about 40 years ago. We have 4,000 now. The reason for the difference is drug crime, in the main. In fairness to this Government, it has initiated a Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use but we are going to have to be honest about how we can properly tackle the drug issue rather than criminalising those who are the victims of it. We have to spend more time targeting those who are running the show. Some 70% of the drug cases in our courts are for possession for personal use.

If you go down to the drug court, you will see a bunch of sick, poor people sitting in a courtroom who do not need to be there. I feel there is now movement and momentum across all political parties in the House to recognise we have to decriminalise the drug user and focus our attention elsewhere when it comes to drug crime.

We have to equip An Garda Síochána and give it more resources. We also have to give gardaí more respect. They have to have the basic ability to live, to sustain their livelihoods and to live in Dublin. There are 650 fewer members of An Garda Síochána than there were three years ago. We have to listen to what they are saying. We also have to equip community gardaí. Far too often, communities will say regarding community gardaí that they had such respect for them, but they are now gone up the chain. We have to recalibrate what community garda service actually is and give it the resources, the respect and the status it deserves in An Garda Síochána.

I reiterate my call to the Minister of State. What if we continue to demonise areas and call them "gangland"; if we continue to demonise people who are the victims of drug addiction and call them names; and if we provide no respect for those young people? I used to hear it all the time and it was fascinating to me, in a perverse sense. When I was teaching these children, I realised the only time they heard anybody on the radio speaking the way they speak was when somebody was perceived to be stupid or untrustworthy. It was remarkable. The only time they heard somebody with an accent like theirs was when somebody in an advertisement was perceived to be stupid or untrustworthy. They feel this and they know this. I remember around Mother's Day an eight-year-old was making a Mother's Day card. She wrote "To Mum" on her Mother's Day card. I asked the child why she had written "To Mum" and asked her what she called her mother. She said, "Me ma". When I asked why she had "Mum" on the card, she said it was because "Ma" is awful common. She was eight years old and she knew that both what she was and the word she used to describe her mother were not good enough. We have all created a society that convinced this child she is not good enough and the word she uses to describe her mother is not good enough. She was eight years old. Where will she or others get respect if we do not respect them in the education system, in their schooling and in their opportunities? Otherwise, they will find respect elsewhere.

I am glad that during the contributions from the Minister and the Minister of State there was an emphasis on diversion and on education. We have to have a fully rounded debate because it cannot reduce itself to more law and order and more gardaí.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Deputy Colm Brophy)

Organised crime has to be tackled head-on at every single opportunity. There can be no let-up. Over the last few days, I have been contacted by so many people to outline the feeling of betrayal and anger they feel about Sinn Féin's-----

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

Here we go.

Deputy Colm Brophy

-----position in relation to Jonathan Dowdall. One man, John, who is an anti-drugs activist, now said he feels personally betrayed when he hears Sinn Féin's public representatives speaking about crime, drugs and how to tackle them. It is a party, he said, that was willing to allow a violent criminal to be a public representative for its party. He went on to ask me, "Do they feel no shame?"

This week, two men were found guilty in the Special Criminal Court for their roles in the 2016 gun attack in the Regency Hotel. Last year, a father and son, including a former Sinn Féin councillor, Jonathan Dowdall, pleaded guilty to facilitating the horrific murder. Four men have been held to justice to date. The criminal, Jonathan Dowdall, is no stranger to the Special Criminal Court; it was his second conviction there. He is also very well known to Sinn Féin and to his former constituency colleague, Deputy McDonald. There are many serious questions unanswered by Deputy McDonald and her political protegé turned gangland torturer.

On 23 September 2014, when Dowdall was resigning from the party, Deputy McDonald paid tribute to him saying, "He will be missed in his elected role by me [and] the local party organisation." This is the same local party organisation in her constituency that discussed a 2011 gun attack with Dowdall on a Dublin home, prior to his election to Dublin City Council.

On 17 October 2014, thejournal.ie reported that Dowdall was remaining with Sinn Féin. thejournal.ie reported he was "'delighted' to be remaining with Sinn Féin and said that the decision came after talks with party figures". He said Sinn Féin’s deputy leader of the time, "Mary Lou McDonald had been a 'total support' and is one of the people he most admires in Sinn Féin". These reports, by the way, have never been disputed by Sinn Féin. I ask the Minister of State if he agrees we need to know more about who convinced Jonathan Dowdall to stay within Sinn Féin.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

I do not wish to interrupt the Deputy, but this is general statements on-----

Deputy Colm Brophy

Yes, it is indeed.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

I remind the Deputy of the title of this business, which is Statements-----

Deputy Colm Brophy

I will come back to that. Thank you. I appreciate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, but I will continue.

Did his constituency mentor and now party leader, Deputy McDonald, call to his home, on the Navan Road by the way, and persuade him to stay? Did Deputy McDonald pressurise Jonathan Dowdall to stay in her local organisation?

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Deputy, I am not sure-----

Deputy Colm Brophy

What actions did Mary Lou McDonald take-----

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Deputy.

Deputy Colm Brophy

-----to ensure Dowdall remained on as a councillor?

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The Deputy is asking very specific questions.

Deputy Colm Brophy

I am. Deputy McDonald will be here in the House later. I am sure she will take the opportunity to answer questions-----

Deputy Pa Daly

You are asking the Minister of State.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

This is a very appropriate debate at this time. The title of the debate, referring to organised crime, clearly indicates the disorganisation of society. Many of the organised criminal gangs to which we now refer regularly have larger budgets than some small countries. They do not count their wealth anymore in hundreds of thousands or millions of euro but in billions of euro, and that is a clear indication as to where we are going.

A common thread runs through this entire issue, namely, drugs. The drugs issue has to be dealt with, yet we are incapable as a society of dealing with it. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets and the more powerful these gangs become. I listened with interest to Deputy Ó Ríordáin's contribution regarding his experiences and what he said is correct, but we have different attitudes to how the problem should be dealt with. I believe there is no sense in appeasing the drugs issue. It is going to go on and on. The late Tony Gregory, for many years a Member of this House, went to great lengths to discommode the drug barons but they prevailed, despite the fact he stoically went against them again and again. He put forward various proposals, all of which were designed to curtail the activities of the drug barons. The problem is the drugs trade is lucrative, and because it is lucrative, it is attractive. It affects every young person in the country, from primary school and second level to university and society in general. That is a sad state of affairs but that is the way it is.

A former mayor of New York City claimed responsibility through zero tolerance for bringing the issue to a halt in the United States. In fact, it was not him at all but his predecessor, Mayor Koch, who clearly put the perpetrators behind bars. He took the people who were making the most profits, the known leaders of the industry, and put them all, collectively and selectively, behind bars in a place from which they could no longer operate. There are those who to this day tell us it does not work that way and that we have to do it at a different level and look at it differently, but we do not. We have to look at it straight on, head first and up close and personal. We have to deal with it and put the drug barons out of business because their influence and the degree to which they continue to influence young people is massive and growing. We are only just short of selecting people to run for public office on behalf of drug barons to perpetuate their case. It is an extraordinary situation to be in.

We cannot continue as we are. There are those who say we should have a greater emphasis on a medical response, and that is true. We need to respond to that issue in a way that is serious, meaningful and compassionate and it has to be done that way, but it should not be done in the way methadone treatment was. I recall attending a meeting of a ministerial drugs committee many years ago. We found out that one part of the community in the drugs industry felt as though methadone was an opportunity to get more drugs and to top them up illegally. That is going to continue, no matter what we do about it, as long as we accept that drugs have any place in our society. At the same time, we have to accept the fact irreparable damage is being done to young people.

I return to the point I made about the examples being set for young people. They see the emergence of drug barons who get more and more powerful and become more and more influential. They see situations where they seem to prosper, whereby if you want to be influential in society, this is the guy to look up to. They look at the 4x4 he drives, but they never look at the situation as it affects individual households, where families are torn apart by the activities and profits of the drug barons. Those profits will continue unless we cut off the supply, so we need to spend more time and devote more gardaí and traditional security methods to cut off that supply. Ours is an island nation, for God's sake; nobody can walk over a border.

To those who say those approaches do not work, they do. To return to the late Tony Gregory, in his company we examined the Zurich experiment, the Amsterdam experiment, the Italian experiment and all the various other experiments, which have now fallen into disarray. They failed because the supply was never interrupted. As long as that power and supply continues, the major drug barons will continue to operate to the detriment of society and young families throughout the country.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

Everyone has the right to feel safe in their home, on their streets and in their neighbourhood. This right has been taken from so many communities by organised criminals and drug gangs, gangs of thugs using violence, menace and intimidation to exploit working-class communities, targeting our young people to groom them into a dead-end life of crime. They prey on vulnerability and poverty and thrive in the deep pool of disadvantage that too often encircles good, decent people. Poverty is not an accident. The State and successive governments are responsible for the neglect, degradation and disrespect that leave people vulnerable to these groups, vulnerable to the violence and chaos that follow them, vulnerable to addiction, drug debt, premature death and bereavement, and vulnerable to losing a loved one or themselves to a lifelong cycle of crime and imprisonment, robbing generations of families of a fair chance to thrive, achieve and reach their potential.

I offer these observations not as excuses but as the real-life context in which organised crime and drug crime have taken hold. No quarter can be given to those who have built vast empires and huge wealth by preying on working-class communities. These gangs must be smashed, these thugs put behind bars, where they belong. That means targeting and confiscating criminal assets and building the resources and morale of An Garda Síochána at every level, but with an emphasis on community policing. Government policies have seen Garda stations close, members of An Garda Síochána walk away in record numbers and communities left vulnerable. Front-line gardaí do incredible work - crucial, brave work - and their efforts must now be matched by the Government.

If we are serious about ensuring that another generation of young people is not put at risk of the drug gangs, politics and the Government must now match the ambition and determination of communities throughout the country. Communities must be supported and resourced. In the past decade, community development, youth work and vital community infrastructure in so many vulnerable neighbourhoods have been eroded and stripped away deliberately by governments. If we want to ensure our brilliant, talented, energetic young people in working-class areas, in particular, have a life defined by choice and opportunity, not by marginalisation and vulnerability, we have to invest in them. We have to plan and strategically develop our communities because there is little point in political posturing, rhetoric and faux-outrage. The Government must now shoulder its responsibility and enable An Garda Síochána, the criminal justice system and, crucially, communities to be resourced, strong and resilient.

Sinn Féin stands 100% with law-abiding citizens, with the members of An Garda Síochána and with the courts system - all of it, including the Special Criminal Court - against the threat of organised crime.

Much has been said in the aftermath of the case in the Special Criminal Court that concluded earlier this week. For the avoidance of doubt, let me say again that Jonathan Dowdall had no business in Sinn Féin. He should not have been in our party. He joined in June 2013, he left in February 2015 but it was in March 2016 that his criminal activity was discovered.

I first met Jonathan Dowdall and his wife, a civil servant in the Department of Social Protection, at an event in advance of the 2011 general election. He was a family man. He was running a successful electrical business working with some of the largest companies in the land. Indeed, he featured in the media about the success of his business. He was a north inner-city kid who had worked really hard and who had done really well. We now know that this was not the real Jonathan Dowdall, a man would go on to commit heinous crime. He, and he alone, is responsible for his actions. He has been tried. He has been convicted before the courts. If I had known for a second what he would be capable of, what he would go on to do, he would not have been near me, he would not have been near Sinn Féin and he certainly would not have been running for public office. I would not tolerate that.

As a public representative, I have stood resolutely on the side of the community in the fight against criminal gangs, drug dealers and antisocial elements. I will continue to do that. I have always stood with the community in the fight for services, supports, housing and opportunity for the people; I will continue to do that. I can only hope that Government now or some other government in the future-----

Deputy Colm Brophy

Something Sinn Féin loves, as the Ceann Comhairle knows, is to have a question-and-answer session. Here is an opportunity for her to answer questions.

Deputy Gary Gannon

Sorry, will my time be respected here? I am involved as well.

An Ceann Comhairle

I ask Deputy Gannon to resume his seat. The Deputy's time will be respected. Of course, it will.

There is provision for statements, not questions and answers. We will not turn it into a circus. We have had the statements - end of story. We will move on now to Deputy Gannon.

Deputy Colm Brophy

Deputy McDonald has walked out anyway. I thank the Ceann Comhairle.

An Ceann Comhairle

We will move on to Deputy Gannon.

Deputy Gary Gannon

I did not really understand what to expect from the contributions today. When this was first presented to us, it came under the banner of statements on gangland crime. That was changed over the course of a week. I am grateful, because I do not recognise where gangland is. Given some of the comments coming from the other side of the Chamber-----

Deputy Thomas Gould

And then they leave.

Deputy Gary Gannon

-----for some, this is not actually about the communities who are impacted, devastated and exploited by the issue of organised criminality. It seems to be an opportunity to just take shots and further relegate this Chamber to some form of Westminsterisation. I will not stand for it. This is an important topic that impacts the community I represent and we will have our time to talk about that.

Organised crime, which we are debating as opposed to settling any scores or vendettas among different groups in the Chamber, is so-called because of the illicit activities and violence associated with it that is not carried out at random. It is carefully planned and it is strategised. It operates through a hierarchy where there is a clear ranking of leaders in the upper echelons who are responsible for strategic thinking and decision-making around activities. These activities are then carried out by lower level members, much like any corporation.

When looking at the modus operandi of an organised criminal enterprise, two different desired outcomes can be discerned - power and profit. Organised criminal enterprises, much like corporations, are increasingly technologically advanced. They carry out their operations online, commanding access to wider distribution networks and markets while also engaging in their own form of counter-surveillance.

I have experience in that area.

Deputy Gary Gannon

Step three is to make it more difficult for organised criminal actors to pursue power and profit. We do this by targeting problem-orientated policing and visible community policing around the clock. We need to separate the functions of the police so that personnel who are expected to engage and build relationships in those communities are not the same people we ask to start going in and knocking down doors. That has to stop. Community policing is absolutely essential. It involves building up a relationship where people know their local garda, he is on the street and they see him. We need to ensure that schools, community services and residents' associations are equipped, trained and deemed responsible for ensuring their own community safety as well. This is a job for everyone, not just the police. It involves mobilising communities against organised crime actors through public information campaigns on drug-related intimidation and its negative impact on the community. It would break down the false support these actors have harnessed through fear. It would involve designating local community champions and role models, people we can point to who are successful not only through the traditional sporting endeavours that we usually do, but also building up access for those who get to go on to university and into the jobs market. It would demonstrate that there are alternatives.

If we are serious about combating organised crime, we have to break the cycle of it. I can guarantee that we can point to families and communities who have suffered from this for 50 years, since heroin first came in. If we only try a policing solution without actually attempting to combat poverty, increasing educational attainment, giving greater access to sport and to the arts, empowering people through dialogue and building trust with services of the State, it will not work because that is the only way we will ever get in front of the problem. Organised criminals and organised gangs fill gaps where others believe and rightfully feel the State has abandoned them. If we continue with what is being advocated on the Government benches, we will just be back here again next year and the year after that. We are committed to this. Let us try different approaches. There are models that work.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

Under a delusion.

Deputy Fergus O'Dowd

Listening to the addresses of the Opposition, obviously most of them are entirely unaware of what is happening in my constituency, County Louth, with one clear exception. Deputy Ó Murchú is well aware, familiar and supportive of what is happening in the town of Drogheda and in County Louth in fighting crime, organised crime and drugs. There were appalling murders, the dismembering of a young boy, the burning of homes and fear and loathing in every street and part of our town two or three years ago. As a result of those appalling acts, the Government, with the support and physical presence of all the leaders of all the parties in Drogheda, on the Bridge of Peace, brought in a new regime to our town, county and Garda division. There was a huge increase in the number of gardaí, with more than 40 additional gardaí, of whom 16 were actually community police. That is a key point. It involves improving community links and supporting families who have difficulties and issues, and, if they fall outside the law in the initial case, interacting, understanding, appreciating and offering a helping hand to people in the first instance.

The reality for Deputy McDonald and her party is that in Drogheda, the Garda has significantly dealt with many of these crimes. People have been detected and charged with murder, attempted murder, possession of firearms and drugs, manufacturing of drugs, importation of drugs, possession of explosives, petrol bomb incidents, criminal damage and so on. The strong arm of the law is being used firmly and regularly in our county and indeed right around the country. The strategies that are working in Drogheda, under the Drogheda implementation plan, are being copied in other parts of the country. A new grouping was recently announced in Cherry Orchard which will model itself on how one fights crime, organised crime and abuse. It is done by making sure the Garda has the necessary resources and communities are supported. The nonsense that Deputy McDonald spoke about communities not being supported is clearly shown up by the support in Drogheda for those very communities, the Red Door Project, drug treatment court liaison workers, Prison Link workers, family addiction support services and over €500,000 given to youth supports in our town, particularly to young people in disadvantaged areas.

Policing and drug subgroups have been set up. All of the schools have been involved in drug and alcohol information and awareness campaigns. Some 180 primary, second level, further education and other students were involved in that. The Garda, the north-eastern regional drugs and alcohol task force, the HSE substance abuse youth teams and Tusla family support services are all involved. If this has to happen in every part of our country, I believe it is the true, best and only way to deal with the criminals and put them away, and the longer the better. It is also the best way to deal with the causes of crime my colleagues opposite pointed out, namely, poverty and lack of education, and to offer people hope, a choice and a new opportunity. Nothing is perfect, not even in my town, but we are certainly getting to grips with the issues in Drogheda. We are totally dedicated as a unit. I speak again of Deputy Ó Murchú, who is seated across the House. He knows, I know, and Deputies Nash, Munster and Fitzpatrick know that we all step up to the mark, united together in this attack on issues. It is actually working.

When we talk about bringing criminals before the courts, the gardaí in Drogheda have been fantastic. They have been supported fully and completely by the communities in their determined approach. It is working. I know that we can walk our town today and nobody is in fear. I have to say there have been incidents recently but the atmosphere in our town and the change in how people feel about what is happening in our town is very significant.

It is happening under a Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil coalition Government. If Deputy McDonald gets into power, we have a few questions for her. At the core of our criminal justice system, as she referred to herself, are the trials of people who commit those crimes. Deputy McDonald spoke about a certain Jonathan Dowdall in her commentary today. I have a few questions for her about that and I welcome the clarity she has given so far. These are the further questions I would like to ask. What actions did Deputy McDonald take to ensure that Mr. Dowdall remained on as her councillor, if any? What total support, as reported by The Journal, did she provide to Jonathan Dowdall to ensure he remained within her party? Who are the party figures Dowdall had talks with to reach his decision to stay in Sinn Féin? All of this took place months after Sinn Féin's director of elections discussed a 2011 gun attack with Dowdall before he was elected to the council. On what date and with whom did this meeting or conversation happen? Did it happen on more than one occasion? I think Deputy Eoin Ó Broin commented on a number of conversations with the director of elections.

Sinn Féin stated this week that Jonathan Dowdall discussed a gun attack with Deputy McDonald's local party organisation.

It stretches credibility to the limit to say that she had no idea about these conversations. What did Sinn Féin do with that information when Mr. Dowdall referred it up, as Deputy Ó Broin claimed? Did it consider going to An Garda Síochána? Did it ask for more information? We do not know, but it seems to me it just printed Jonathan Dowdall's election posters and Deputy McDonald, I think, joined him on the canvas trail. On Monday, the judge called Mr. Dowdall "a ruthless, base, callous criminal". This is a man who is a suspected IRA member and associate of Garda killer Pearse McAuley. Was Jonathan Dowdall a member of a terrorist organisation while he was a member of Sinn Féin? I do not know. Deputy McDonald may not know the answer to that either but somebody does.

In the autumn of 2014, Deputy McDonald facilitated, supported and smoothed the path to ensure that Jonathan Dowdall stayed with Sinn Féin. She celebrated the return of its prodigal son at that time. This is the same prodigal son who engaged in waterboarding and torture so there are many questions to be answered. I welcome what Deputy McDonald said today but there is also a basic and fundamental issue. If the polls are right, Sinn Féin will sit on this side of the House in a year or so and we will be in opposition.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

The Deputy is being very defeatist.

Deputy Fergus O'Dowd

I do not know where Deputy Tóibín will be. He deserves his place on this side of the House but in what role will be decided later.

Where does Sinn Féin stand in respect of the Special Criminal Court? If we look at criminality, and the fear and loathing of people who carry out the most evil crimes in our society, many of them were brought before the Special Criminal Court because of intimidation of jurors, or because people were afraid to give evidence or even sit on juries as they would be eyelined, named and attacked and, certainly, intimidated. Let us look at the people who were convicted by the Special Criminal Court. They include John Gilligan, Anthony 'Dutch' Doherty, Brian Meehan and Paul 'Hippo' Ward for the murder of Veronica Guerin; Pearse McAuley, Jeremiah Sheehy, Michael O'Neill and Kevin Walsh for the murder of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe; Michael McKevitt for directing terrorism as a leader of the Real IRA; John Dundon for the murder of Shane Geoghegan; and so on. The list goes on and on. Jonathan Dowdall was convicted not once but twice by the Special Criminal Court. The question for Sinn Féin, when legislation on the Special Criminal Court comes before the House, is that it has never supported it but has abstained. If Deputy McDonald is in government, what will happen to the Special Criminal Court and the other Jonathan Dowdalls who are out there? What will happen to the juries that could very well be intimidated by people who are brought before the court and convicted? That is a fundamental and real question for her to answer.

A key issue in our society, and it is something we have to think about and address, including through public information, is recreational drug use. At present, every time somebody takes a line of cocaine or smokes whatever the drug is for recreational use, somewhere down the line that money is going into the pockets of all those people who carried out all those criminal acts in my town and other towns. It is helping the lifestyles of people who live in other parts of Europe, particularly parts of Spain, as we know from last night's television programme and so on. This is a public health issue. We need to address recreational drug use, including everybody, no matter who they are, who takes recreational drugs that are illegal and outside the law. I am aware there is new thinking regarding those drugs and so on, but we have to make sure that people realise, and we tell them in black and white and in real-life terms, that taking a recreational drug is not just feeding the pockets and earnings of these people but, in many cases, is killing people as well. Many of these recreational drugs are not what they seem to be. There is no test for clarity or purity and so on.

Organised crime causes heartache and misery for communities. I stand full square in my support for them and the gardaí who stand up to these criminals every day of the week. We have to get to grips with the scourge of organised crime. Everything possible must be done to tackle all the causes so we can grasp it at the root because communities need protection. Vulnerable people need to be protected and the Garda needs to be resourced.

I am extremely proud to be the Sinn Féin spokesperson for addiction, recovery and well-being. We believe that recovery is not just an individual journey but one to be taken by families and communities. We believe it is time to resource recovery, support those who are on that journey and try to help repair the harm and damage being done to communities. I love to meet people to learn and hear their stories and get their advice. Those who work in the addiction sector have taught me so much over the almost three years I have been in this role. They taught me about their resilience, empathy and the passion they have for their sector. They have shown me that a real difference can be made in the lives of people, families and communities. They have also shown me, as groups and individuals, that recovery is possible.

They are doing all of this on a shoestring because of Fine Gael austerity measures in 2009 and 2010 that slashed and decimated services to communities and education task forces. We are now paying the price for the consequences of Fine Gael's actions during its 12 years in power. For the past two years, Fine Gael has brought in budgets for addiction services that are only a tenth of what Sinn Féin would bring in.

On top of this Fine Gael slashed Garda numbers, shut down Garda stations and reduced opening times. In the past decade, Fine Gael has brought An Garda Síochána to its knees. Sinn Féin would resource An Garda Síochána. We would resource addiction services, recovery services and communities.

Deputy Chris Andrews

The devastation imposed by organised crime on the communities my colleagues and I represent has been painfully clear for years. Too many communities feel anxious, unsafe and abandoned as they face the terror, devastation and heartbreak that crime brings to their neighbourhoods. Criminals do not represent these hard-working, decent communities, such as those in Pearse Street, City Quay, Cuffe Street and so many more which contribute so much to Dublin life and are rightly appalled and horrified by these thugs. These communities deserve to feel safe and protected. They deserve to be able to walk around their neighbourhoods, send their children out to play and sleep soundly at home. Yet, when I talk to residents they tell me they feel trapped, forgotten about and abandoned by this Government.

Fine Gael has held responsibility for the Department of Justice for more than a decade and in this time, policing and community safety have hit rock bottom. Gardaí do an incredible job, working hard day in and day out to protect our communities. I commend their bravery and hard work as they serve on the front line day and night in often extremely challenging circumstances. However, they too feel abandoned by the Government. They are overworked, understaffed and struggling to do their jobs safely. They have seen first-hand how Fine Gael's failure to invest in An Garda Síochána has brought the service to its knees. Never have I witnessed morale so low among gardaí. They are resigning in record numbers and the Garda is struggling to recruit the new officers it needs. Gardaí feel unsafe at work. It is as simple as that. Morale is on the floor. They are denied the modern equipment they need to do their jobs. It is no wonder it is proving so hard to increase Garda numbers. The self-professed party of law and order, Fine Gael, has stripped An Garda Síochána through its failure to provide leadership. Fine Gael is soft on crime and decent, hard-working communities are forced to pay the price.

The Government must get to grips with organised crime. I see it in my constituency in Pearse Street. I heard previous Government speakers say there were loads of resources. The resources are not available. The local youth club that does fantastic work in Pearse Street has no own-door facility. It has to rent facilities it can use.

Deputy Gino Kenny

Organised crime is an insidious reality and those who participate in that insidious reality are some of the most unscrupulous people who will use particularly grotesque violence and intimidation to achieve their ends. They are highly organised, motivated and adaptable because of the vast profits of the black or alternative economy. When inequality and poverty are factors, some people will go down the route of the alternative economy. That is no excuse. Many people who come from working-class areas never go down the road of organised crime but a small number of people from these and other communities participate in this activity.

One of the main drivers of organised crime is the supply and distribution of drugs. It is the key driver of organised crime. When controlled drugs in the State are controlled by organised crime we have a problem. The controlled drugs that people use are controlled by the black market, which is highly profitable and insidious in areas of our life. The proliferation of all drugs in the past five decades has exponentially increased, as has our prison population. What does that say about the laws of the land? We have to go back to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, which reflected what had happened in Britain a few years previously, to see when a deterrent to the supply or use of drugs was introduced. Anyone in this Chamber who tells me this legislation had the desired effect is fooling themselves. It has not and, in fact, it has vastly enriched a tiny number of people in our society.

There is a narrative, one that I would argue, that we need to look at something very different from what we have at the moment. The alternative is to take back control. We must stop criminalising people for using drugs. People use drugs for all kinds of reasons. As I said, the black market largely controls drugs. It is highly profitable and we need to take back control. That control has many strands to it. We are having a debate about decriminalisation in the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use. That is a good and important debate. I hope the citizens' assembly will make recommendations to look at approaches different from the status quo because the status quo does not work. If it worked, people would not be using drugs.

The vast majority of people in Irish prisons are there for drug-related crimes. This approach does not work. We need to do something different. I do not think most people will agree with me when I say, and I do so genuinely, that we have to do something radically different from the paradigm of prohibition. It is about decriminalising the person. People will use drugs, regardless of whether they are legal. We have to stop criminalising people who want to use drugs. It is also a factor that people will use and enjoy drugs. Drugs have been around for millennia. People will want to alter their minds. If they want to do that, why criminalise them? Why bring them through the criminal justice system? That approach simply has not worked. We must look at radical alternatives as regards regulation and legalisation of certain drugs. There is even a debate to be had about the regulation of all drugs. It is quite a nuanced debate.

There are many reasons people turn to drugs. Many people will use drugs but never abuse them. Moralising about people using drugs, which I am surprised the Minister did, does not sit well. Saying they are part of a criminal circle or that by using drugs they are somehow endorsing the black market and criminality does not wash. People do not think about that when they are using drugs.

Deputy Simon Harris

That is the point

Deputy Gino Kenny

They are thinking of other issues, such as whether the drugs will have an effect on them.

This is a complex issue. We must look at different models because the current model does not work. Criminalising people does not work. It only enriches a certain number of people in society. The radical approach is to decriminalise drugs and have a wider debate around regulation. If we look around the world, it is clear we cannot police our way out of the drug industry or drug world. It is impossible. As I said, people use drugs for all sorts of reasons. It is a brutal reality and it can be extremely ugly. I have seen what drugs have done to people very close to me and it is horrible. Based on my life experience, I believe we need to do something different. Criminalising people does not work because, again, it only enriches a tiny number of people in our society. We need to do something different and I hope the citizens' assembly will come back with a different model from the one we have at the moment.

Deputy Alan Farrell

I requested that this debate take place primarily because this is such an important issue for the House to discuss. Timing-wise, I could not have gotten it better, as the Special Criminal Court made its decision on Monday. I welcome the opportunity to speak on what is a significant matter for our country. Organised crime poses a direct threat to our population, society and the workings of a stable democracy. It tears at the very fabric of our communities. Organised crime and its footsoldiers have no place in our society. We must never rest in our efforts to stamp out their activities and bring to bear the full rigours of the law in this effort. To allow a casual acceptance of organised crime to take root in our communities is to allow a generation of young people to be lured into a life of crime and antisocial behaviour, to allow vast sums of money to be taken from our economy and communities, to cause entire communities to lose faith in our justice system and democratic institutions, and to foster a belief that our institutions cannot support law-abiding citizens. This is the goal of criminal gangs that operate in our State. We must never allow them to achieve that aim. We must be unanimous in our support for the work of the Garda and the justice system to bring the consequences due to these criminals. If we fail, we condemn good people to live in fear under the boot of criminals and their gangs and we condemn young people to a life without the freedom to hope and dream of a safe and vibrant community in which people work together for the betterment of our country. We cannot turn away from the task of facing criminal organisations head-on. We must not allow safe harbour for any organisation operating outside of the law. We must do everything in our power to drive criminal gangs out of our communities. We must not cease in this effort and we must work collectively.

The Special Criminal Court hit the headlines this week. Unsurprisingly, one of the most callous and brazen murders carried out in broad daylight was at issue. Thankfully, two men have already been jailed and it is of critical importance for that to be acknowledged. I assure the House that organised crime fears the Special Criminal Court. We must continue to utilise the mechanisms of the State to tear down criminal gangs and, as the Minister highlighted in his opening remarks, amend and improve how we tackle crime by seizing assets and placing them into receivership. Criminals cannot be allowed to frustrate the system, as the Minister described, and profit from their ill-gotten gains. The court will play a significant part in that process.

On Monday, the Special Criminal Court judged one of the key players in its recent decision as "a ruthless, base, callous criminal". I am referring to former Sinn Féin councillor, Jonathan Dowdall. An elected member of a political party was referred to as a "ruthless, base, callous criminal". He is a good republican, perhaps. Sinn Féin said he was a minor figure, that it simply did not know and the party was blindsided by his activities. Deputy McDonald came into the Chamber and said as much in the last few minutes. Unfortunately, I do not accept that. Despite Sinn Féin’s claims that it had no inkling of Dowdall’s links to criminality and repeated denials from the party leader, we learned this week from Deputy Ó Broin on the radio that the party did know. Speaking on "Morning Ireland", he said that during a meeting between the party’s director of elections and Jonathan Dowdall before the 2014 local elections, it was Dowdall who raised the issue of an attack on a family member’s home. During the Special Criminal Court trial, tapes played in evidence demonstrated that Dowdall claimed the Sinn Féin official said to him, “ya riddled your uncle’s house” and the Sinn Féin official said it was his job to ask this in case it came up in the media. It is clear now Sinn Féin has known for nine years about the gun attack on Dowdall’s uncle’s house. The party now says its own future politician, at that time, brought it up and discussions were had with the director of elections. This completely discredits and undermines what has been said by multiple members of Sinn Féin in the last few weeks and just today in this Chamber. That is incredibly regrettable. I think if people were more honest, open and transparent and were to perhaps stand up and say they made a mistake, people would be more accepting. The opportunity for that has now passed.

Just four months after being elected to public office as a Sinn Féin representative, he quit. He was not forced out; he quit. Speaking at the time, the leader of Sinn Féin, Deputy McDonald, said she regretted his decision very much. She continued:

Jonathan is a very popular and respected member of his community and he will be missed in his elected role by me, the local party organisation and by local constituents.

Four months later, Jonathan Dowdall tortured a man who visited his home. He shaved the victim's head, repeatedly placed a tea towel over his face and poured water onto the tea towel in a practice commonly referred to as waterboarding. Let us reflect on that for a moment. He was described as "a very popular and respected member of the community" who would be missed. This is a man who tortured and threatened to murder. This is a former Sinn Féin councillor. The Special Criminal Court has played a pivotal role in bringing paramilitaries and organised crime to justice over the decades. I was quite wrong when I called for a debate on "gangland". The Deputies are quite correct, it should be referred to as organised crime and not just gangland because then I can talk about paramilitary and other organisations, not just those involved in what we refer to as gangland crime

The Special Criminal Court has been a crucial component in our attack against violence, drugs and terror. The promotion and continued existence of the Special Criminal Court has consistently been opposed on the benches opposite. In fact, until 2020 Sinn Féin was consistent in voting against it and only recently has been abstaining, if I am not mistaken. For anybody listening to this debate, I ask why Sinn Féin is not supportive of the Special Criminal Court. I am conscious of the Ceann Comhairle's presence and intervention earlier. This is not a rhetorical question. Why does Sinn Féin not support the Special Criminal Court? Its justice spokesperson, for whom I have great time and respect, said it was because he does not like the legislative process. That is effectively what he inferred. I do not believe that. Why is Sinn Féin literally soft on crime when it comes to the Special Criminal Court and then lectures us on the provision of timely interventions by the State through investment in An Garda Síochána, keeping up with significant levels of funding across all aspects of the Department of Justice? I would love to know who it thinks it is serving by not supporting the Special Criminal Court. We all have a choice, every single one of us. We decide to choose the side of justice and stability or we do not. I know where Fine Gael stands. Our votes and actions have been consistent over generations. From opposition, we supported the Special Criminal Court because it was the right thing to do and we continue to do so now that we are in government.

Let us consider the implications of what a Sinn Féin government may look like. It would be soft on crime, with a willingness to stonewall the public and democratic institutions with regard to criminality. It would sack public servants with whom it does not agree. When it disdainfully portrayed the Garda in a historic setting, it was deeply upsetting to many members of An Garda Síochána. I know this because they were in contact with me. I am not just referring to the public statement from the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors. It was deeply offensive and I assure the House that the non-apology was not an apology and was not enough.

I wish to refer to an important aspect of this discussion, which Deputy Gino Kenny passionately referred to. While I do not agree with everything he said, I agree with some parts of it. As the co-author of a justice committee report in 2015 on the Portuguese drugs model, I know he is absolutely correct.

We need to change radically the way we deal with drugs in this country. I have no desire, nor will I ever vote, to legalise drugs, but I will happily vote to decriminalise drugs and for the matter to be treated appropriately as a health issue, not a criminal issue. We will deal with criminals quite differently from the way we deal with the drug user, particularly a person who is hooked on drugs and needs the support of the State and is not getting it at the moment.

The Portuguese drugs model has been successful, despite what one of my colleagues on this side of the House believes. It has seen significant reductions in crime associated with drug use and a significant reduction in the number of people incarcerated because of drug use. That is an outrageous success, as far as I am concerned. I have been calling for such a model since that report was published and I am one of several present Members who co-authored the report, of which I am proud to this day. I have recently been reappointed to the justice committee but, unfortunately, I did not take part in the current Oireachtas committee report on drugs, which I do not agree with because it goes down the rabbit hole of partial or legal use. I am sorry but I do not think a drug that we know causes harm should be legalised. If we were to have a conversation about alcohol or cigarettes or nicotine a few hundred years ago, they would be banned. I do not see why, just because this is a huge problem, we should just give up the fight. There are better and smarter ways of fighting.

I think the citizens' assembly will be a great opportunity for this House to use the wisdom of 100 people, as we have with a number of other discussions, to help us to form and to formulate a view which I think will be to the betterment of our citizenry. I very much look forward to that. I will be earwigging in the halls of the Grand Hotel over the next few months as they deliberate on the decision.

We must build stronger, safer communities that allow all residents to pursue their dreams, to be free from the intimidation of criminality and to take pride in their localities. Fine Gael is very consistently committed to this ideal and will not stop until it is achieved. It is our ultimate duty in public life to strive for this future, and we cannot betray that duty.

Deputy Maurice Quinlivan

I am proud to represent the city of Limerick. Limerick is a beautiful city, with welcoming people and decent, hard-working communities. Yes, we have had our problems in the past, and we continue to have issues with criminality in a small minority of our areas. Some of those areas have really good people and good communities, despite the organised crime gangs and their criminality. These areas are not ganglands, and I want to put on record that that term is deeply offensive to those communities, who reject these thugs and the terror they bring to their neighbourhoods. Yet the Minister's party continues to use that odious term, including in a tweet from the national Fine Gael Twitter account earlier today. People need to stop using the term.

The tentacles of criminality spread across all communities, from rural to urban, and from urban centres to suburban towns. The people of these estates in Limerick, however, with the exception of 1% or less, either have worked or are now retired. They get up to go to work, care for their families, protect their neighbours and take pride in their communities. I am from one such community in Limerick and I am utterly proud to be from there. It is time to get to grips with the scourge of organised crime and ensure it is ripped out of communities urgently. For too long, government after government has failed to grasp the misery and terror these criminals bring.

Fine Gael has had responsibility for the Department of Justice for some time, during which organised crime has spiralled. Fine Gael is soft on crime. Its light-touch approach has seen it slash garda numbers, shut police stations and abandon many of our communities. Unfortunately, in Limerick we have seen garda numbers cut significantly. This Government has shown a callous disregard for the needs of those communities on the front line dealing with the consequences of criminal and antisocial behaviour. As well as under-resourcing the Garda, it has stripped communities of vital community and youth services for those dealing with drugs and addiction.

The first thing Sinn Féin would do to address this situation is to initiate the biggest garda recruitment drive in the history of the State, with a goal of reaching 1,600 recruits per year. This would put gardaí back into communities to protect people and ensure they are safe. In its time in government Fine Gael has cut community garda numbers. In our battle against organised crime, community gardaí are vital. They embed themselves in communities and know the families and the youths. Their mere presence in the community is a deterrent to crime. Their presence in a community offers a counterbalance to those who peddle drugs. The cutting of the numbers of community gardaí is detrimental to those communities most pressured by the organised crime gangs. Sinn Féin would end this scandal.

I acknowledge the work of the gardaí in Limerick in curbing the sale and supply of drugs by organised crime gangs. Our gardaí do brave, crucial work every day as they serve and protect communities and they have my full support. Organised crime flourishes in areas of deprivation. It flourishes when areas are abandoned by central and local government. We see this in estates up and down the country. Fine Gael has been in government for years. There have been Ministers in Fine Gael governments who have hailed from Limerick, yet seven of the top areas of deprivation in the State are in Limerick. Again, when you abandon communities you allow organised crime to flourish.

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

Organised and disorganised crime have flourished in areas of high disadvantage, areas that nobody cared about for many years, under multiple governments of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Deputy O'Dowd spoke about the Drogheda implementation board and its plan. I am very much in support of that type of multi-agency response. There are still issues. The Red Door Project and others may be glad of certain bits of funding, but nobody has the real multi-annual funding required to be strategic.

Let us be clear: we are talking about many generations who have been absolutely failed. If we are serious, it is about resourcing the Garda. We have all spoken to gardaí who do not believe anybody, the Government included, has their back and do not believe they have the supports. We know that there are issues with recruitment and retention and that there have always been issues with resourcing, training and equipment, so we need to provide the Garda with the supports needed. We know that the addiction services are not there. We know that gardaí at times have to make up for the mental health supports that are not there. Let us be really clear. Let us see if we are serious about dealing with organised crime and drugs.

I say that while accepting that the citizens' assembly may be a bit braver than many of us in here, but let us be clear that we really have to get to grips with poverty. We have to level the playing field and bridge the gaps, and that means early family intervention, real supports and changing the way we do things altogether. Let us be clear, however: there will always be a need to give those supports to the Garda. When I was a councillor I probably spent more time dealing with gardaí than I did with council officials, and it was usually about drug debt intimidation. I commend the work they do, but they do not have the resources or the capacity to deal with the level we have let organised crime get to. I accept that we have domestic and international issues, and we will support anything that will deal with this, but we need to get real rather than just coming out with trite comments here and trying to make cheap political arguments.

Deputy Matt Shanahan

Organised crime is a fact in Ireland and it involves conspiracy generally to commit serious crime. Mostly, it operates on a level of intimidation and enforcement. It preys not only on the weak but also on the strong. We also have disorganised crime in this country. We see that more outside of the major urban centres, maybe, in the form of antisocial behaviour, theft, money laundering, general types of stealing and what have you.

I think it is fair to say that the organised crime in this country is most prominently seen around the drugs trade. Ireland has moved on very much in comparison with other countries in Europe and we have quite a burgeoning hard and soft drugs trade. I think most people involved in social services and some in community services would say that cocaine is now rife around all our cities, with its use also rife among our middle class. As for the reasons people take drugs, I do not have the answers to all that, but one thing I do know is that the drugs trade is all about money, and money is all about coercion.

The addictive nature of drugs is a significant problem. I refer to future discussions of the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use. The citizens' assembly is very welcome but we need to be mindful that the drugs people speak about nowadays, particularly marijuana, are not the drugs people might have smoked 20 or 30 years ago. They are a far different product. They have been genetically modified to be far more addictive. People in psychological services tell us of significant damage they are seeing, particularly in adolescents who are smoking marijuana. I am not going to prejudge the outcome of the citizens' assembly but we need to have people who have wide and specialist experience in terms of understanding what drugs are and what they are not.

The Garda is the backstop to everything we do in the justice system before people arrive into the courts. I speak to gardaí and know that we have significant resourcing issues. In my own area of Waterford I have brought up a number of times the fact that we have a divisional headquarters in a building that is completely unfit for purpose. It has people crammed into offices where there are four or five of them in a small space. They cannot even bring their bags in with them or hang up their coats. We have a monitoring unit down there that serves all of the south east plus another six counties. It is like looking at a pilot getting into a seat. That is how little space is in there. What does it say to people who are going in to do important jobs in the morning that this is their work space for the next seven or eight hours? I have raised this with the Minister before and he has told me it is a matter for the Commissioner and all the rest. We need investment in that divisional headquarters.

Rural policing is a significant issue and again it is about the lack of numbers. In some rural areas in my constituency they have tried to get community monitoring going. The Minister was in County Waterford recently and met a community monitoring group in Dunhill. He has seen the work they have done. The fact of the matter is that they are short €1,200 to manage their monitoring service every year. That is because of the cost of using group texting. They are having to run around to try to raise that money. They reached out to a number of councillors and others. We need some sort of statute to perform these things. They are absolutely vital to people. I am on that list. I could get a text at any time of the day or night telling me about car registration numbers and people moving suspiciously and all that. It is a great comfort to people in the country. Another thing the Minister is aware of is the targeting of outbuildings and farm buildings using drone technology. People are flying drones over sheds and farms, looking for ATVs, tractors or anything that can be taken. We need to find a way. Technology is moving on and crime will always utilise technology way before the State uses it, unfortunately. We need to get something around that.

The Courts Service has a very difficult job to do and the burden of proof always has to fall such that they consider people innocent before they are found guilty. However, we have a courts carousel going on in this country. We can see it if we read the crime sections of the regional newspapers any week. There are people coming in with multiple previous charges. They are up before the courts and generally speaking they get a non-custodial suspended sentence and are back out again. The gardaí know they are going to be looking at them in a matter of months. It is really difficult for a garda to go through the process of trying to bring these people before the courts and seeing them out the other side. I know there is a separation between the courts and the Oireachtas in terms of powers. However, we have to do something about prison services, rehabilitation services or even some of the community outreach services others have spoken about here. We have some people who can be remediated. We have some people who are on the wrong track and they can be brought onto the right track. We have other people who cannot. To be quite frank, for some of those who are hardened criminals, they need to go away for quite a while. I spoke to someone who was a prison governor here for a number of years. His estimation was that for hardened criminals, if the sentence is less than five years they do not rehabilitate. After five years maybe they do but in less than five years they do not. We need to be looking at sentencing. We need to look for constructive sentencing in the courts. Most of all we need resourcing of our policing. That is really where we can mitigate organised crime. We need an uptick in cybersecurity also because criminals are now going online to do all their business.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

The Department of Justice over the last number of years has become distracted by the culture wars and has completely reduced the level of attention it gives to the issue of crime. Under Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party, Ireland is becoming a more violent and dangerous place. The Government is soft on crime and the causes of crime. These are the facts. Figures obtained by Aontú recently via a parliamentary question show that there has been a 60% increase in a short period in the number of knives seized. In the last ten years, 17,000 knives have been seized on the streets. Last year there was a record of 16 convictions under special legislation designed to deal with organised crime, and 112 arrests. Unlawful killings and murders increased in 2021 and they doubled in 2022. It is astounding that any Government would preside over a situation where the number of unlawful killings and murders has doubled in a particular year. Parliamentary questions submitted by Aontú to the Minister have shown that domestic violence is increasing. In 2022 there were 53,775 cases of domestic violence. Every year now sexual violence and sexual assault are increasing in the State.

As was discussed by a number of Deputies, drugs are in many ways the engine of organised crime. I have to agree with the Minister on one point. Middle-class people who take recreational drugs on a weekly basis have to know that they are fuelling the drugs trade which is leading to murder and mayhem in communities in this country. I am very cautious about the fact that the Government is pivoting on the issue of drugs in the last couple of years. I listened to a Fine Gael Deputy say that he would never vote for the legalisation of drugs. That is plainly not true. The technical instrument that is used by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to decide on these things is putting their finger in the air to find out which way the wind blows. The truth of the matter is that if the Government feels there are votes in any of these decisions, it will go down that route.

One of my first political activities, when I was living in the constituency of Deputy Ó Snodaigh, was to canvass a block of flats in that area. I was young and new to politics. When I went into that block of flats I came across a stairwell where there was a pair of women's tights and a piece of tinfoil. At the very top there was a young 17-year-old unconscious, foaming at the mouth at the top of the stairs, clearly having taken heroin. Stepping over that young fella was a seven-year-old kid in a primary school uniform. It was very clear to me that that ruddy-faced young child would be in the same place as the 17-year-old lad in a number of years if there was not some level of intervention. My worry on the whole debate on drugs is that in general, drugs are bad for physical and mental health. Any legislation that is brought in and that does not seek to reduce the use of drugs, addiction to drugs and the mental health damage drugs cause will create more problems in the long run. I listen to people say that there needs to be a health-led approach. There is nothing stopping a health-led approach right now. There is nothing stopping the Government from investing in residential rehabilitation centres for young people. That needs to be carried out.

I want to touch on the fact that the Government has let the Garda down massively in the last while. Information we have received shows that 2,411 gardaí were assaulted while on duty in the last ten years. We have seen an incredible number of gardaí in recent times with fingers bitten, being rammed by cars and actually being attacked on the streets. It is really frustrating that the Government is not funding proper Garda numbers. In 2016 when the Garda figures were at the bottom because of austerity, Ireland had among the lowest number of officers per capita in the whole of the European Union. Since then that figure has hardly moved at all. We are still one of the most lightly policed countries in the whole of Europe. There is nothing being done about it. We know that two gardaí are resigning per week currently and well over 250 gardaí per year are retiring annually.

Last year, however, only 150 gardaí were recruited in total. Templemore is designed to take in 150 gardaí every second month, yet only 150 gardaí in total were recruited for the whole of last year. This spells absolute disaster. Incredibly, even in the context of all that information, the conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors had to call on the Government not to discipline gardaí for misgendering people on the street. Can we have some cop-on and common sense in the Department of Justice? Given that thousands of gardaí are being injured and there is an inability to recruit gardaí, can it focus on the bread and butter issues that are affecting people in constituencies throughout the country rather than always being distracted by the culture wars when it comes to these issues? There is a need to intervene in working-class areas to make sure they have the educational and job supports, along with investment in community services, youth clubs and health services, to ensure we break the cycle of organised crime in many of those areas and allow the many decent people in the areas to live their lives to their full potential, and we need investment in proper Garda services.

Deputy Paul McAuliffe

I am sure the Minister will disagree with some of the points made by Deputy Tóibín, particularly with regard to the numbers. Facts are sometimes inconvenient, however. I will let the Minister correct some of those points.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

They are figures from replies to parliamentary questions.

Deputy Paul McAuliffe

The key point is that the Deputy referred to figures for a certain period. One can be selective in picking particular periods.

I agree with Deputies Tóibín and Shanahan that drugs seem to be the engine of the organised crime industry. That is because there is huge money to be made on the sale of drugs. We have seen infiltration by the drugs industry of many different organisations and areas of public life in Ireland as well as in other countries. We would be naive to think that level of infiltration by organised crime does not happen here. Members of An Garda Síochána have been accused of it, as have members of political parties, although there have been no accusations pertaining to the Judiciary. The financial resources available to these international organisations are vast. I will make a point that may differ from those made by many of my colleagues. I am sure there were members of Sinn Féin who were aghast that one of its councillors was involved in organised crime. I was on Dublin City Council with the person concerned and I was aghast to learn he was involved. It is a warning, however, that there is no area of public life that organised crime cannot infiltrate and that is because at the centre of it is the sale of what we regard to be illegal substances. I come to this debate knowing drugs are harmful and wanting to reduce their consumption and the harm they cause, as well as championing recovery. We can make communities safer by taking that approach. The citizens' assembly is a welcome step because it is an admission by the State that the current system is not working. Everybody agrees on that. That is not necessarily to say that any change is positive; that is to say the current system is not working. It is a bit like fireworks. We all know fireworks are illegal but every September, October and November, they can be heard every hour of every day in some communities. The situation in respect of drugs is exactly the same. They are widely and freely available and that is an admission of the failure of the approach of criminalising that activity. We need to admit the current approach is not working. How do we change it? Politicians get away with murder by using the phrase "a health-led approach". It is rarely backed up with an explanation of what it means. The citizens' assembly will force Members of the House to explain what we mean when we refer to a health-led approach.

In anticipation of the citizens' assembly debate, I recorded three 40-minute episodes of a podcast with nine people of differing views to help to communicate and explain some of the concepts at the heart of this issue. Senator Lynn Ruane, Philly McMahon and Fr. Peter McVerry, who have political views that are very different from mine, outlined the scale of the problem. They spoke about how sports clubs and communities experience significant levels of use of illegal substances despite their illegality. They spoke about the debate in the House in the 1970s when the Misuse of Drugs Act was first introduced and how Deputies questioned whether the approach being taken on drugs conflicted with that in respect of alcohol. Irish society is uncomfortable with that comparison and I understand why. It is because alcohol is a regulated industry with quality controls and so on. Fr. Peter McVerry rightly pointed out, however, that if there are two groups of young people standing on street corners in two different parts of Dublin and taking two different forms of drugs, there will be totally different social analyses of those groups just because they are taking different substances. The issue is not the substance, however. Rather, it is the illness of addiction into which people often fall.

Many people use drugs and continue in their lives. It has a negative impact on their health but they may be able to function in society, just as some people overuse alcohol and are able to function. There are people who fall into problematic drug use and, for them, the way we treat drugs differently is the problem. People can openly seek treatment for a person with an alcohol addiction without fear that this admission will lead to a criminal conviction. There is much more widespread acceptance that alcohol addiction is an illness and can be treated. If a person has an addiction to illegal drugs, there is a totally different range of barriers. Those with such an addiction have to admit to a health professional and family members that they are committing a crime. They may be in debt and have to repay the price of the drugs. Their family members can get sucked into repaying those debts. There are different barriers to entry to treatment and recovery for two different substances but the same illness of addiction. A criminal sanction is one of the reasons for that.

Decriminalisation will make a massive difference for those with problematic drug use. That is not to say that drug use is a positive thing or should be endorsed. In fact, there should be a redoubling of our efforts to send public health messaging that drugs are poor. Philly McMahon made that point on the podcast. He said he sees lots of advertisements about road safety deaths and other public health messaging but there is not enough public health messaging that certain types of drugs have an adverse effect. He made that point as a person who wants drugs to be decriminalised. He is saying the State should spend more to dissuade people from taking drugs.

We also spoke to Denise Proudfoot, head of nursing education at DCU. She spoke about dual diagnosis. That relates to people who, because of the pain of mental health issues such as anxiety and so on, sometimes self-medicate. They take a substance such as alcohol, cannabis or cocaine to try to reduce the pain caused by their mental health issue. I had not come across that concept before. If I have a headache, I take two Panadol and the pain goes away. If a person has mental health pain or the pain of trauma from sexual abuse or another significant trauma, sometimes the best way to function is to take something that takes the pain away.

Sometimes, due to their circumstances or the availability within the community, people do not consume alcohol but take an illegal substance. We have to find a way for those who are self-medicating to be treated without becoming criminals as a result of what they are taking. The concept of self-medicating needs to be examined.

We also need to address dual diagnosis. Someone could have a mental health diagnosis and an addiction but the problem is that many of our services treat either the addiction or the mental health and will only take a client who has one or the other, rather than both.

Dr. Proudfoot spoke passionately about the idea that a person’s initial choice may be to take the drug a first, second or third time but the reward system in the brain changes over time. As we know from alcohol addiction - it is no different with other forms of addiction - people do not make the same free choices they made the first time they took the drug because the addiction is taking over. We all know the addiction is not the person and the person has an illness. We need to factor in that concept of dual diagnosis.

Maureen Penrose, who has been involved in the National Family Support Network for many years, spoke about the impact of drugs on her family and how it had destroyed the lives of many people. She said we should be treating this as an emergency because the current system is destroying many people’s lives and we are not doing enough to solve it. That is true. As proud as I am of many of the initiatives this Government and previous governments have taken, we are not doing enough for people who have an addiction and to prevent people from seeing addiction as a way of easing their pain.

Ms Penrose also spoke about the idea of trauma and adverse childhood experiences, whereby events in a person’s childhood can cause a pain that he or she seeks to numb. I spoke about this earlier.

In the third episode, the podcast discusses the decisions that all of us in this Chamber will have to deal with because when the citizens’ assembly makes its recommendations, the report will come to us. This is a very difficult political issue because two groups of people are very much afraid of decriminalisation. One group is the people who have drug dealing taking place at their gate every day. They do not want that to get worse or the State to say it is okay. They are fearful that decriminalisation will make the problem worse. The other group consists of those who have family members in addiction, do not want to see that happen to other people and fear that decriminalisation could cause that to happen to other people.

This is a difficult political debate for us because, in the same way as when we approach Covid-19, these are difficult medical concepts which can be difficult to communicate in the heated debate that can often happen. I urge people to lean into the medical evidence on all of this. As I said, this is not to say the taking of unregulated illegal drugs is positive. I do not think anybody is arguing that we legalise heroin, cocaine or any of those substances.

Deputy Jim O’Callaghan, the final contributor to the podcast, stated that while he was open to the concept of decriminalisation, he did not believe we should send the message that drugs were a positive thing. I agree with him on that.

We need to have a big and adult conversation on this issue, which very much challenges all of us. We have to think of what we would do if one of our brothers or sisters or our mother or father was addicted to a substance. Would we, in our heart of hearts, report our family member to the Garda or would we try to get him or her treatment? Would those of us with the money to do so use those resources to get that treatment privately? For those who do not have money, would they find it difficult to seek recovery? That is what is happening in many communities.

We have to approach this as if it involved a family member. While it may not be the case now, in five or ten years’ time, we could all find ourselves in a situation where a family member is addicted. We must find ways to respond to that and that involves fundamentally changing the way we do things.

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

I thank Deputy McAuliffe for raising what we should be debating rather than having Deputies sniping across the Chamber. We have major questions to deal with in the future in respect of drugs and criminal gangs in this city. I welcome the new implementation group which, as far as I know, was set up this week in Cherry Orchard. I hope it will have the same effect that similar organisations had in other areas.

At the end of today, we are talking about people and communities. My community is no different from many other communities in Dublin, other cities and throughout the country. Many communities have seen the worst - I hope it is the worst - that can be brought upon them by these criminal gangs. They have seen the drugs trade leading to wholescale shootings, intimidation and murder. In my area, there was a feud for a number of years between the Rattigan and Thompson gangs, which is the way in which it was presented in the newspapers in any event. It was as if that justified it. We had 16 deaths in that feud alone. We have another feud, which seems to be ongoing, an element of which was before the Special Criminal Court this week. It has left 18 people dead, including a totally innocent person from Drimnagh, Trevor O’Neill, who happened to be on this holidays enjoying himself. It was a case of mistaken identity and, bang, there goes another life. That is the way these gangs treat people in their communities and, as we have seen, outside their communities.

The trappings of wealth are not the yacht or big house. The trappings of wealth that encourage young people towards some of these gangs can be a Rolex watch or a flashy car or it could be the bullet-proof windows we have seen in some of these houses. There are gangs of adoring, loyal kids or lieutenants who do the bidding of these gangs for a score here or perhaps just to feel part of a buzz. Before long, they get sucked into the criminal world and are in the clutches of drugs. They sell drugs, prostitute themselves or rob to feed their habit or they extort, threaten, enforce and intimidate others, whether the members of an addict's family or the addict. Then there is the violence associated with that and the destruction of property. All of this continues to feed into the problem. It makes life very difficult for all of the families involved, those around them, the addicts and those who are caught up in this.

We need to focus on how we tackle the intimidation, the chaotic behaviour of the addicts and the stigmatising of communities, 99% of which are absolutely fabulous people. A small cohort, at the behest of somebody who thinks he is a criminal overlord, believe they can twist or turn the tap and bring destruction on families and the community. That has happened and not only in my area.

That is where much of the work is. How do we break up those criminal gangs? For years in this Chamber, we have been calling for CAB to do much more work and to focus on smaller elements, including the lieutenants. It took years before we started to see that shift and we have seen some progress. We cannot have areas inside or outside Dublin that do not have a drug squad in the local Garda unit or district which can target these criminal gangs. We have seen exactly what young people are faced with, day in and day out, on their way to school where they see people shooting up on the stairs or have to step over, as Deputy Tóibín said, those who are comatose from a drug. They have to learn how to hide when a shooting is going on in their area. They recognise the runners. They see this and are often more aware than the adults in those communities are of what is going on. We need to think about how that informs their small minds and the way they will look at society in the future. That dereliction of our duty needs to end. We need to focus and do much more to ensure society, communities, young people and adults can live in safety and are not intimidated in the way they are now.

We need to address the issue of legal and illegal drugs because the decriminalisation or legalisation of drugs does not address the issues underlying much of this.

Deputy Cormac Devlin

I welcome the opportunity to examine the progress in tackling organised crime in this State. I am acutely conscious of the devastating impact that illegal drugs, the drug trade, drug dealing and related criminal activity have on communities across the country, particularly in the capital, Dublin.

It should be noted that, by international comparison, Ireland has a relatively small organised crime landscape. Nevertheless, it has a detrimental impact on communities. Thankfully, gun crime and fatal shootings are showing significant downward trends since the early 2000s but every incident is a tragedy. The decrease is in part due to legislative changes to the Offences Against the State Act and the introduction of the Criminal Justice Act, which have had an impact on organised crime. The new legislation on the grooming of children will also have an impact once implemented.

An Garda Síochána has been at the forefront of tackling organised crime through a range of targeted measures designed to disrupt and dismantle the operations of criminal organisations. In this, it has been supported by the CAB and the new drug-related intimidation reporting programme. Fianna Fáil, in government, is fully committed to ensuring An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs to keep communities safe, as evidenced by the unprecedented funding of over €2.1 billion provided in budget 2023.

There have been three peaks in organised crime activity in Ireland in recent years. The year 1996 saw the infamous shooting dead of journalist Veronica Guerin by John Gilligan and his organised crime gang. This outrage led to the establishment of the CAB, which alongside the Special Criminal Court has been a powerful tool in dealing with organised crime. Ireland experienced further peaks in organised crime activity in 2005-06, due to a boom in the drugs trade during the Celtic tiger era, and more recently in 2016. As we saw during the recent case at the Special Criminal Court, organised crime groups in the State regularly work with dissident groups still active on the island. These dissident groups have access to military-grade weaponry – a legacy of the Troubles – and this poses a clear danger to the public. We have also seen significant efforts to intimidate witnesses over recent decades.

Given that these legacy conditions continue to exist on the island, it is imperative that the legislation underpinning the Special Criminal Court remain in place. It is worrying that some Opposition parties still fail to support that court. Others seek to remove the legislation completely and the tools necessary to ensure public safety and tackle organised crime.

As we have seen recently in the North, the PSNI remains very much at risk from organised crime groups and dissidents. I thank the Garda and everyone involved for their efforts in tackling organised crime. Parallel to the policing response, a social response is needed to support communities affected by organised crime.

The recent response in Limerick, the north inner city of Dublin and elsewhere is very welcome. However, I agree with Deputies who have said this afternoon that supports need to be expanded. It should be noted the Government has introduced unprecedented support for communities. Examples include the expansion of the hot school meals programme to all DEIS schools and the increases in capitation grants for primary and secondary schools and at third level to support young people, particularly those from marginalised communities.

I pay tribute to and thank the Minister, Deputy Harris, for his engagement over recent months while responsible for justice along with his other portfolio. I also pay tribute to the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, for his efforts. Since he took office, he has made real, tangible efforts to engage with marginalised communities across the length and breadth of this country. That engagement and the listening exercise to determine where gaps exist are to be commended. The Department has responded very well to the needs of some of the groups, particularly their funding needs. Some Deputies in this Chamber have referred to the superb work being done by communities, but it is essential that the funding they require be given. I pay tribute to the Ministers on their engagement with the various groups.

It is imperative that the House send out a signal. This debate is both topical and really important, and the Government needs to hear the concerns of communities gripped and ravaged by criminal activity. It is a scourge affecting hardworking people. We have seen it in certain areas. I do not like to name areas because it stigmatises them but the reality is that organised crime has a huge impact on communities. We need to work with the Garda to ensure it has the necessary tools and resources to tackle organised crime.

Minister for Justice (Deputy Simon Harris)

I thank the Members for contributing to the debate. I want to begin on the topic of drugs because we have had a good discussion on this during the debate. It is an important one. I have listened very carefully to what people have said. People have spoken from different perspectives. I am conscious that citizens’ assembly proceedings are under way and have no doubt that the assembly will do good work. We need to be careful that none of us falls for the strawman argument that one is on the side of either the criminal justice approach or the health-led approach. I have been Minister for Health and am currently the Minister for Justice and I believe we need to consider this issue in the round. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we need to do more to help people going through addiction, be it an addiction to drink, drugs or gambling. An addiction to drugs is a horrific scenario faced by many people in our country. The impact on the individual and his or her family and community is immense. I am aware of this as I have been Minister for Health. When Minister for Health, I took the approach of determining with the Minister for Justice how the criminal justice system could respond much more empathetically in helping and supporting those with addictions. We have a journey to go in this regard.

What I have said does not take away from other points on the criminal justice side, however. We have to continue to support the Garda in its incredible work. It is doing incredible work in seizing illegal drugs and at international level. We have to listen to the gardaí. I was so pleased to hear that gardaí spoke at the citizens’ assembly about the work the Garda is doing at international level. In my opening comments, I spoke about the Garda liaison officers. They are working internationally on what is a transnational crime – a crime that involves human trafficking and can be linked to prostitution, sexual violence and gender-based violence. It is a crime that brings so much brutality, pain and misery. The criminals target children as part of their operation by promising a lot of glamour and wealth rather than the reality, which is often debt, death, fear and pain.

We need to talk about both approaches. I stand over the comments I made in this House previously on this matter. I have mentioned the health-led approach to supporting people with addiction and believe in it passionately, but that does not take away from the fact that there are people in Ireland today who are not addicted to drugs, who are not perceived to be from a vulnerable community or background, who are in well-paid jobs, who have access to disposable income but who will this weekend, or perhaps today, snort a line or take a pill. They need to be reminded of the direct correlation between that action and the funding of misery, crime, pain, violence and death. Even in a debate on criminalisation or legalisation, I do not believe anyone in this House is ever going to suggest the legalisation of many horrific types of drugs. Therefore, we have to get real in relation to this and not have strawman arguments. I have listened to many Deputies of many different perspectives in what I believe has been an informed and good discussion. All I ask is that we continue to listen to the voices of the gardaí regarding the tools and powers they need.

I echo the comments made by Deputies on all sides of the House on the absolute misery that organised crime causes – about that, there is no doubt – but it is organised crime that causes misery in good communities among good people. We cannot say that enough; none of us can. Those who are most repulsed, revulsed and appalled and living through the misery are the good decent people in the affected communities. As in the discussion and debate on drugs, we must realise in our discussion on how to tackle organised crime that we absolutely must do more on a criminal justice basis. We also need to continue to support the communities, particularly the parents therein who aspire to a much better, safer future for their children and grandchildren.

I heard many things about organised crime, some of which I fundamentally reject.

I will try not to be overly partisan in this response because this is an important and sensitive issue. The idea that we are soft on crime and some of the things levelled at Government benches are simply not true. We are making real progress on organised crime. An Garda Síochána is making real progress on organised crime. I outlined some of the statistics in my opening speech. Since March 2015, we have seized €325 million worth of illicit drugs. We have seized 146 firearms and 5,672 rounds of ammunition. A total of €28 million in cash has been seized while there have been 1,353 arrests. People in this House are aware from media coverage and elsewhere of what I believe is very significant progress made by An Garda Síochána in its international work in trying to break up some of these criminal organised crime gangs so real progress is being made.

On the criminal justice side, I believe passionately that we must reform the law around CAB. One of the best things this House did in previous years from a criminal justice point of view was to establish CAB. It has worked and is lauded internationally. However, the criminals are always trying to get ahead of us and sometimes they try to come up with vexatious court cases so they can hang on to their ill-gotten goods for longer - live in the big house or mansion, keep the flash car and all the time keep going back to the courts. These vexatious cases are taken to just run down the clock and frustrate the system. We need to end that and we need to legislate this year so that CAB can immediately through the courts appoint a receiver to take the assets so you are not hanging on to the mansion and continuing to live there for years. Once we go down this road, the receiver takes control of the property or the asset until the final disposal order. If at the end of that, you are due the house back, fair enough but that is a real change we can make to show we are trying to keep up and catch up in some areas. We also need to reduce the seven-year period in law to two years in terms of final disposal so we will do these things and I hope we will do them together this year.

We need to increase sentences for conspiracy to murder. At the moment, the maximum sentence is ten years. We intend to legislate in a criminal justice (miscellaneous provisions) Bill to increase the maximum sentence to life. We need to continue to give our courts and gardaí the powers they need.

I believe we all need to continue to support the work of the Special Criminal Court. People will have an opportunity to express their views on that this summer. The Special Criminal Court serves a very important purpose in this State. It protects men and women from having to come eye to eye on a jury with some extraordinarily dangerous people in this country. The Special Criminal Court plays a very important role and I am clear in my view that there have been successful prosecutions that would not otherwise have happened were it not for the Special Criminal Court.

We need to legislate regarding protecting children. I have published legislation that will make it an offence to coerce children into a life of crime - the grooming of children. Again, I expect that there is broad support for this.

We have much to do on the criminal justice side and there is a big legislative programme under way to support An Garda Síochána. Specialist units and community policing are both really important. We should not divide into either-or. We need more in both. The specialist units have been key to the success in combatting organised crime while community policing is also key in terms of supporting the community. As Garda numbers rise, and they will rise as recruits continue to go into the Garda College in Templemore, which will have another intake on 15 May, we need to make sure that numbers rise in both specialist units and the man and woman in uniform on the beat.

We will not be found wanting when it comes to supporting communities. Deputy Ó Snodaigh referred to the Cherry Orchard implementation board, which was established this week. They tell me that the first meeting of that board will take place this month. This is a really important step in supporting and standing by the community of Cherry Orchard because we know it works. It is working in Drogheda with the Drogheda implementation board. I have been up in Drogheda with regard to this in both my roles over the past number of months. We need to take that model and look at how we can roll out community safety partnerships across the country. As we legislate, and next Tuesday sees Committee Stage of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, we need to make sure that from next year, we roll out a community safety partnership in every county in Ireland and make sure we bring together all the stakeholders and not just An Garda Síochána. Of course, An Garda Síochána should be involved but it should not just be An Garda Síochána. We need the education providers, the local authorities, the transport companies and so on. It involves what everybody needs to do to make the community safe.

The community safety innovation fund continues to grow, taking money off the criminals and not leaving it sitting in a bank account but putting it into a fund that disburses back out into communities, particularly those that have been most impacted. This fund is open for applications now.

I also pay tribute to the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, regarding education. We must continue to break the cycle of deprivation and disadvantage that can exist in certain parts of the country. It is always a risk for all people in all parts of the country but it is more acute in some areas. It involves things like the access-to-apprenticeships programme, prisoner education and a particular focus on the education of children of a prisoner. Just because mum or dad has ended up in prison does not mean you have to end up there. In my other work in Government, I intend to continue working closely with the Department of Justice on this.

This has been a good debate. Some outstanding questions in the political space have been asked and should be answered but certainly as we approach the organised crime space, we have to come at this from the criminal justice side and the community side. That is the way we will continue to support An Garda Síochána in making real progress.

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Thursday, 20 Apr 2023

Organised Crime: Statements

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 20 Apr 2023