Taoiseach hopes for plan to deal with rural crime

The Taoiseach has said he hopes a plan can be drafted to deal with criminal gangs burgling houses and attacking homeowners throughout the country.

Enda Kenny told the Dáil on Wednesday the plan could be drafted by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald and Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan.

“Obviously, the situation is not as satisfactory as we would wish,’’ he said.

Mr Kenny said the Government had reopened the Garda training college in Templemore, with 500 new recruits, introduced consecutive sentencing and allocated €27 million for Garda vehicles in recent years.

He said the Garda Síochána could make the valid point there were an extra 61,000 community hours now available for policing.

The Taoiseach said a small number of gangs were responsible for carrying out the majority of burglaries and it appeared that many of them were high on substance abuse as they created fearsome damage.

Mr Kenny said the burglaries and the attacks on people were deplorable and he condemned them without reservation.

“I am glad that many of those, not all of them to date, have been brought before the courts and the law,’’ he added. He said it was most unfortunate that death had occurred in some cases.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who raised the matter, said the Taoiseach's response was weak. "You are speaking like a commentator who is helpless to do anything about it," he added.