Apr 2002
Contact: Mirenda O'Donovan Tel: 01 618 3379 / 086-8110571
Issued by: Fine Gael National Press Office, Leinster House, Dublin 2. Tel: 01- 618 3379
From: Michael Noonan T.D. Leader of Fine Gael
Nowhere have Fianna Fáil and the PDs failed more clearly than on crime.
They were elected to office on a law-and-order ticket, trumpeting the meaningless slogan "zero tolerance". Since then their biggest effort has gone into massaging the statistics, in the vain hope of convincing the public that crime is falling.
But they have no hope in selling such a message to the Irish people, who can see with their own eyes and ears what is happening.
They know that over the past five years there has been a dramatic increase in all kinds of violent crime.
In the year 2000, assaults causing harm were up by 131%, and the total number of assaults reported to the Gardaí during that year was 11,400. Some 5,000 people needed overnight hospital care after violent attacks.
There are now four serious drugs offences every day. There are six rapes every single week of the year. Murder, once a very rare event in Ireland, has now become commonplace.
Small wonder that a recent Fine Gael survey showed that nine out of ten people were afraid to walk in Dublin city centre at night. They have very good reason to be afraid. Law abiding young people are now avoiding the centres of cities and towns for fear of unprovoked attacks.
Almost half of all businesses were victims of crime in the past 12 months – at an estimated loss to business of close on one billion euro. So much for a business-friendly government!
Under Fianna Fáil and the PDs, Ireland has the highest throughput of prisoners in Europe, the highest reoffending rate, the most expensive prison system, and the highest proportion of under 21s in custody.
So where do we go, after five years of zero performance? Surely not another package of measures from a team that have failed in their job.
Today you will hear about Fine Gael’s approach to this problem.
We recognise that throwing more money at the problem will not be enough. The justice system needs to be reformed and the allocation of resources needs to be changed.
Fine Gael will rebuild public confidence in the fairness and effectiveness of the justice system to protect the Community. To do this, we want to see Gardaí visibly working to implement a coherent and effective crime prevention strategy.
We want to see early intervention and involvement with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, to cut sharply the numbers who get sucked into crime.
We want to see the use of prison as a last resort, only when other forms of intervention have failed or are inadequate.
We want to see victims recognised by law as having clear rights and their needs addressed.
And we want to see corruption and fraud prosecuted with the same severity as other serious crimes.
In this election, Fine Gael is putting forward a carefully thought-out programme on crime. If we are elected, the people of Ireland can be sure of one thing: we will deliver. We are committed to win back our streets for the law-abiding citizens of Ireland.
