Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Neno Dolmajian, a 41-year-old Canadian tourist died yesterday from his injuries sustained during an attack on O'Connell Street last week. God rest him and deepest sympathies to his family and friends. Last year, in this country, murders nearly doubled. Robberies, extortion and hijacking offences increased by 18%. Juvenile crime levels increased massively last year as well with increases in theft, robbery, fraud and sexual offences by teenagers. Domestic abuse cases are at a 50-year high in this country, with 40,000 cases reported last year. I held a public meeting in County Meath on the issue of crime recently. Women who work in the retail sector told me that if they catch children shoplifting, they are often threatened that they will be raped as they walk home if they go to An Garda Síochána. These women no longer feel safe walking to and from their place of work and now get lifts directly to the door.

Ireland had the highest level of drug deaths in the EU last year. Indeed, the drug fatality rate in Ireland is four times the European average at the moment. Ireland is becoming a dangerous place and there is hardly a street in a town or a city where people are not living in fear. This is not happening by accident. The Government is soft on crime and is soft on the causes of crime. Last week, the country was rightly up in arms regarding the shocking treatment of Natasha O'Brien. People are furious with the suspended sentence that was handed down to her attacker. The Taoiseach called for a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence. The Minister for Justice even stated that she will not tolerate any form of domestic or sexual violence in future. However, this is cynical nonsense. Not only does the Government tolerate this level of crime, but Government policies are directly responsible for the increase in lawlessness in this country.

Let us just look at the issue of sentencing. The Minister for Justice admitted to me in a parliamentary question reply that there has been a doubling in the proportion of appeals due to undue leniency in the courts system in the past eight years. Some 22% of all appeals in 2016 were for undue lenience. Last year, 42% of all appeals in the courts systems were for undue leniency. Sentences in this country are becoming more lenient and that is a staggering change. I have no doubt that the prison system being stuffed has an influence over the sentencing that has happened. The Minister for Justice also admitted to me that the prisons are radically overcrowded. She admitted to me that in just two years the numbers of prisoners who are four to a cell has increased fourfold. The number of prisoners who are three to a cell has doubled. The prisons are so full that the Minister admitted to me she is carefully selecting criminals to release early to make space for more criminals to be put in. That is stated in black and white in a reply to a parliamentary question I have from her. The Taoiseach states the sentencing is a responsibility for the judges but not all the time. Legislation can be created to set minimum custodial sentences for violent and sexual crimes but the Government is allergic to the setting of minimal custodial sentences in law. The Government could also strengthen the Garda force, which is on the floor at the moment. When will the Government take the issue of crime and antisocial behaviour seriously?

See this speech in context