Crime and Antisocial Behaviour

Ireland is becoming more dangerous. We have reached a dangerous tipping point in terms of crime and anti-social behaviour in cities, towns and villages across the country.

We are seeing crime levels growing at a level not seen in modern Ireland.

However, only a minority of those incidents are prosecuted and tried. The murder rate is increasing year after year. Human trafficking, theft, violent crimes are all increasing while
Garda numbers are collapsing.

This is the legacy of the ‘law and order party’ Fine Gael in government.

Rising Crime
We were told that the murder of Ashling Murphy was a ‘watershed’ in this country. Ashling was a young woman just going for a run. But a short time later, a mother of two, Lisa
Thompson, was found murdered in her Ballymun home. Since then, more women have lost their lives North and South, in what is now an epidemic of violence against women and girls.

Violent murders such as that of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee in Sligo, the brutal dismembering and burning of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods and the murder and sexual assault of 14-year-old Ana Kriégel show that Irish society is changing radically.

The spike in violent crime unfolding in towns and villages across the country has not happened by accident. There are societal factors that are leading to this increase but the collapse in Garda numbers is also a major contributory factor.

In the North, the PSNI are focused on ‘security’ matters directed by British Intelligence, not front line policing.

Garda numbers per capita are at their lowest in 5 years. The legacy of 50:50 recruitment in the PSNI is a distant memory.

Rank and file garda numbers are at the lowest in 6 years. Indeed, the South has now one of the smallest per capita police forces in the whole of the EU.

Road Deaths Increasing
The number of people before the courts for drug driving and dangerous driving, has been increasing each year. Statistics released show that the number of people before the courts in
the last four years for drug driving has almost doubled year on year.

The number of persons before the courts for ‘dangerous driving’ has increased also in recent years. The number of Gardaí assigned to police our roads is now lower than at any stage in the last fourteen years. It has dropped 36%.

There is a clear correlation between the lower number of Gardaí on the roads, the increase in drug driving and dangerous driving offences, and the very tragic headlines on our TV screens each day.

An Garda Síochána
Shockingly, in recent times, the Australian government employed more Irish Gardaí than the Irish Government. This is happening because the pay, terms and conditions are now better abroad for Gardaí than in Ireland.

Also, many young Gardaí are leaving Ireland to get a chance to buy a house.

Aontú will Introduce a Minimum Custodial Sentence for Injury to a Garda

Being a Garda is also more dangerous than ever. Aontú discovered that 2,411 Gardaí have been assaulted while on active duty over the last decade. It is completely unacceptable
that hundreds of Gardaí going about their service to the community would be assaulted.

This is a terrifying figure for both Gardaí and their families.
Aontú has submitted a new Bill to the Dáil that if enacted would provide for a minimum custodial sentence for those who physically assault a Garda, Health and Emergency Service
worker. We will work to ensure this Bill becomes law.

The Aontú Bill provides, on summary conviction, a six months custodial imprisonment sentence or, on conviction on
indictment, a two years imprisonment.

Aontú will work to increase the number of Gardaí to 18,000 in 5 years.

According to a Eurostat report in 2016 Ireland had one of the smallest per capita police forces in the EU at 278 Garda for every 100,000 people. This was 40 police officers per
100,000 people less than the EU average.

The most recent figure that Aontú has received from the Department of Justice shows that there are now only 280 Gardaí per 100,000 in the state. This leaves Gardaí vulnerable.

Aontú will ensure this government conduct an immediate review of the present An Garda Síochána force with the engagement of all stakeholders, to be chaired by the Taoiseach and recommendations made following this. 

Our priorities
· Aontú will reopen 26 rural and regional Garda stations

Aontú will not only increase the amount of Gardaí, but we will open 26 local police stations over the next five years, for the purposes of developing community support and tackling
crime. This will cost €30m.

Many rural Garda stations are open for just a few hours a week despite local concerns around crime, leaving some communities completely bereft of a policing service. With the increased number of Gardaí in Aontú’s plan, we will see many of these returned to full-time service.

Community Safety

Aontú will promote better community relationships with An Garda and local residents with a view to mobilising more visible uniformed Gardaí on the beat. We will ensure community
policing initiatives are supported by government through to local councils and organisations.

• Aontú will invest in community centres, community sports facilities, drug rehabilitation, mental health services and interventions. We will extend existing services, reduce waiting
  times and improve the rate of early intervention.

The PSNI has increasingly become a police force uninterested in the concerns of the community, instead focusing on simply refusing to engage and sinking deeper into security policing. A complete overhaul of policing in the North is needed to bring about confidence.

Zero Tolerance for Gender Based Violence
We have seen some shocking cases of femicide and violence against women in the media and courts in recent years. Aontú has discovered that since 2019 there has been a 40%
increase in the number of Garda callouts to instances of domestic violence.

In 2022, the number of people, mainly women, attending a sexual assault treatment unit surpassed one thousand for the first time ever. The courts appear to be handing down
unacceptably lenient sentences to the perpetrators of gender-based violence and this urgently needs to be tackled.

• Aontú will work to ensure Ireland meets our responsibilities under the Istanbul Convention. We will work to accelerate the delivery of Women’s Refuges and rape crisis centres in counties without these services.
  · Aontú will ensure government funding for training for all schools and workshops for parents on the dangers of internet and implementation of filters on internet use in the
  home and on devices.
  · Aontú will ensure that cash remains in widespread use so that those in abusive relationships have the means to leave and not rely on digital payments that may reveal their
  whereabouts.
  · Aontú will increase funding to organisations supporting women suffering from domestic violence.

Online safety
The danger that the proliferation of online pornography poses to our children is one that has gone unchecked for far too long.

Today eight and nine year olds have access to hardcore explicit materials that would have been illegal to be viewed by adults just a generation ago.

Research at the School of Psychology in University of Galway has shown that almost 60% of teenage boys living in Ireland see porn before the age of thirteen. Pornography has become
so easily accessible that many parents feel it is virtually impossible for them to exercise control over what their children are consuming.

Access to pornography is sexualising children at a far younger age. It can radically alter their perceptions of sex, their own understandings of healthy relationships and can lead to
physical and mental health problems. Pornography often contains scenes of violence and aggression. There is significant evidence showing that some young children viewing this
kind of material will act it out on other children.

Research also indicates that pornography can lead to violence against women and children.

In the previous Dáil term, Aontú submitted the Protection of Children (Online Pornographic Material) Bill (2020) to the Dáil, making the online provision of pornography by internet companies to children illegal. 

Drugs, Alcohol and Addiction
Drug dealing is off the Richter scale in many parts of Ireland at the moment. Drugs are being sold openly on our streets, in the parks, in the squares, in pubs and outside our schools. People are coming off buses, buying or selling drugs and heading off again.

Addicts are taking the drugs in alleyways, parks and public toilets. Kids are being hospitalised after taking fake Xanax tablets.

Derelict buildings are used as drug dens, creating hell for neighbours. Many of these houses are vandalised out of recognition and fires are being lit endangering the community around them. It is hard to overestimate the level of destruction that this brings.

In a 10-year period there were a total of 6,697 deaths among drug users throughout the state. This is an equivalent to the population of the town of Kells being wiped out every 10 years.

Two people die from drug-related causes in Ireland every day. 697 people die of drug-related deaths a year. ½ are under the age of 40. 75% of the deaths were male.

According to statistics released to Aontú in 2019, some 48 people were before the courts for drug driving. This figure rose to 587 in 2020, 1,735 in 2021 and 2,248 last year. In the first six
months of 2023 some 1,585 people have been before the courts for drug driving.

Reports from a Cork Coroner have previously highlighted the number one cause of road deaths as speed, followed by alcohol and then cocaine.

• Aontú will work to double roadside drug testing of drivers.
  · Aontú will work to increase the number of Gardaí assigned to Divisional Drugs Units nationwide from 350 to 1000.

In the North, Aontú has led in research and calls for investment in addiction services, particularly in Derry and the North West.

Aontú Oppose the Legalisation of Drugs
Drugs in general damage people’s health both physically and mentally. Any drugs policy must have as its objectives correct. Fewer users will mean fewer lives destroyed by addiction
and fewer people have their mental health damaged by drug use.

Unfortunately, the evidence coming out of the USA and now Canada is that deregulation does not get rid of the criminal
activity. 50% at least of the drug market, even in the mature markets like Colorado and California remains controlled by criminals. In these instances, competition between the
criminals and the legal market prices goes down, potency goes up and the risk to life escalates.

It is astonishing that our current society makes it more challenging to smoke cigarettes, yet many wish to legalise cannabis which in the main is smoked and causes at least the same damage to lungs as cigarettes. Criminal sanctions against drugs are not a purely punitive tool.

Penalties, or even the threat of them, frequently spur individuals struggling with addiction or substance abuse to get the treatment they might never seek or receive on their
own.

Proponents of decriminalisation often speak in favour of a health approach to addiction. Aontú also support a health approach. There is no reason why a health approach cannot run in parallel with a legal ban. In fact, more than one-third of all treatment referrals in the U.S. are currently from the legal process.

• Aontú will not legalise or decriminalise the use of drugs for recreational purposes.
  · Aontú will take advice from the medical profession on the use of cannabis for medical reasons.
  · Aontú will provide both a legal and health-based approach for people suffering from drug addiction.
  · Aontú will review the accessibility of in-patient rehabilitation and detoxification services across the State to ensure that those who need them can access them without excessive
  travel.
  · Aontú will ensure community addiction support groups for families and loved ones are sufficiently funded.
  · Aontú will invest in community detoxification and rehab services and facilities for young people in every city in the State.

Road deaths
The annual increase in road deaths in this country is heartbreaking, the rate is increasing faster than almost any other country in the EU.

One in ten people responding to a survey have admitted to driving after having at least one drink in the last year. Stigma around drink driving in Ireland is now in decline, according to
new data measuring social attitudes among drivers.

No one likes to get a speeding fine but we know that there is a direct correlation between road policing and driver behaviour. Lack of Gardaí on our roads due to plummeting numbers has impacted driving behaviour.

Enforcement saves lives. Unfortunately driver behaviour changes when they know that they are not going to be caught. Shockingly that enforcement is not happening anymore on
many of our roads.

Thousands of disqualified drivers who have been ordered to surrender their driving licences in the past three years have ignored a legal requirement to do so, and thousands more did not even have a licence when they were disqualified by the courts, for reasons including already being disqualified.

Figures released to The Journal show that a total of 32,700 drivers were disqualified over 2021-2023, the vast majority by the courts rather than as a result of amassing 12 penalty
points. More than a third of these did not hold a licence.
Of almost 21,000 who had a licence when they received a driving ban over 2021-2023, just 5,000 surrendered it to the National Driver Licence Service as is required by law to happen
within two weeks.

There are people in court with 2 active disqualifications who are being disqualified for the third time. Driving while disqualified is an offence carrying a maximum sentence of six months in prison and/or a €5,000 fine.

• Aontú will increase the sentence for driving while disqualified to 1 year in prison and a €15,000 fine.
  · Aontú will ensure that Garda have real-time access in their vehicles that will ensure disqualified drivers will be caught.
  · Aontú will ensure that full real-time access to key road traffic data between Gardaí, safety agencies and motor insurers is no longer delayed.

Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is the transporting of people for exploitation. Victims are trafficked into various types of work, including farm work, domestic work and forced prostitution. They may be subjected to sexual abuse and other forms of violence.

Human Trafficking does not necessarily involve the crossing of international borders, much of the trafficking in this country is domestic – much of it relates to the sexual exploitation of
children, and we have a very serious and severe problem with trafficking in this country.

Human Trafficking is a stand-alone human rights issue and can/does affect Irish Nationals. It is not something that always involves boats and seas and activities in the dead of night. We
only have to look around your own towns and cities, it is alive around us and is very much hidden in plain sight.

Shockingly, only three people have been convicted in the district courts for human trafficking in the past 10 years, despite more than 1,000 cases coming before them,
according to data released to Aontú by the Justice Department.

We have a shameful international record on the issue of Trafficking, and we need better data collection in relation to the issue.

Victimhood of the child in these situations must always be recognised. Situations exist where children are given drugs in their school bags, to be intercepted on their way to school,
where children are offered free drugs, made to become addicted, and then forced to be involved in crime to pay for the drugs they are addicted to, or to work for the dealers.

Vulnerable children could be required to testify against a hardened criminal, or indeed against their own parents in some cases which is obviously very difficult for the child and could put the child in danger. Stigmas make these circumstances much more difficult such as ‘touting’ or testifying against gangs.

• Aontú will ensure the recognition of the victimhood of children within Human Trafficking and victims of child sexual exploitation.
  · We will work to ensure specialised supports are implemented to support any child that testifies against an adult who has groomed and exploited them.
  · Aontú will work to ensure that intent to groom, as well as grooming is a sufficient threshold to reach prosecution.
  Criminal exploitation is a form of human trafficking and should be considered as a serious form of child abuse.
  · Aontú will ensure the financial penalty associated is measured by the incomes generated by the children involved for the criminals associated with their exploitation.
  · Aontú will implement EU recommendations that we do not apply penalties against children who have been victims of trafficking, ensuring we do not impose penalties on victims of trafficking in human beings for their involvement in criminal activities which they have been compelled to commit as a direct consequence of being coerced or trafficked.
  · Aontú will guarantee funding for the continuation of training of front-line professionals, including An Garda Síochána, in how to identify the warning signs of trafficking.
  · Aontú will seek to implement a child specific National Referral Mechanism, echoed by The Children’s Rights Alliance and also therefore responding to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s call for more focus on Child Trafficking.

Lack of Prison Spaces
The current state of Irish prisons is extremely alarming. Aontú recently discovered there are approximately 60 more prisoners than prison beds in this country. So overcrowded are our
prisons that the previous Minister for Justice selected prisoners for temporary release.

70% of current prisoners were in prison before for previous offences. There now exists a revolving door situation and preventing criminals being sent to prison. Our prison system is
not working.

In the North, the Prison Service is re-opening obsolete facilities to house prisoners whilst the Alliance Minister of Justice sits on her hands. This will spiral into a major crisis.

Our declining Garda numbers, lenient sentencing and a growing number of people with multiple convictions and no custody is making the tackling of crime very difficult.

• Aontú will add 400 prison spaces, just under 10% of total capacity to the prison system in the next 5 years. This will cost €33.6m in current spending.

16% of prisoners in Ireland have anxiety disorder, 15% have mood disorder, 8% schizophrenia/primary psychotic disorder and 4% personality disorder. 115 people have died
while in custody in the state. Suicide has been cited as the cause of death in 13%; 9.5% have died by misadventure while an inquest is still pending in 50% of cases.

• Aontú will work to ensure this government provides support to prisoners with addiction to drugs and those with poor mental health services in the form of wrap around counselling
  supports, addiction treatment, rehabilitation plans and also properly funded chaplaincy services.

Stronger Prison Sentences

• Aontú will change the law so that any young adult over the age of 14 who has gained more than 5 JLOs will then be treated as an adult for subsequent sentencing.

We have consistently called for a widescale Sentencing Review in the North, particularly around drugs and violent crime sentencing.  At the moment, communities have little faith in the justice system to deliver appropriate punishments and are fed up seeing a slap on the wrist for prolific offenders.

Pet theft and Animal welfare Bills
Aontú introduced the Criminal Justice Theft and Fraud Offences Amendment Pets Bill 2020 in the last Dáil which seeks to create a 10 month minimum sentence for the theft of the family pet.

DSPCA and Dogs Trust who are doing the work of caring for stolen, abandoned and lost dogs have both supported the Bill.
We also introduced the Dog Breeding Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2021 or Aontú Puppy Farm Bill which seeks to introduce a minimum standard for animals. Under the Aontú
law Dogs must be kept in such a manner as to avoid unnecessary suffering.

Dogs must receive treatment when necessary from a veterinary practitioner. Dogs must be permitted to exhibit their natural and normal behaviour and to have the company of other dogs where safe.

The Aontú Bill increases the penalty for breaking the law in terms of Puppy Farms and amends the definition of “authorised person” in the Act to ensure those who are specifically
appointed to fulfil this role have the ability and the resources to do so.