IT seems to me we're losing the battle against crime. The emotional words of Raymond Quinn after the murder of his wife have captured a public mood.
This is a bad time to be Minister for Justice. Three murders within a couple of days do not make a crime wave, but the public perception is that these events are only the latest and most gruesome manifestation of a dramatic growth in violent crime.
For days now the lines of radio phone in shows have been jammed with people complaining about the growth in crime and what appears to be the lacklustre official response to it. Even if the airwaves only approximately represent what the country feels at any given moment, they suggest that the "sense of fear and hopelessness" of which the Minister spoke in the Dail yesterday is accompanied by an anger about the State's response.
That anger is unlikely to have been dissipated by Ms Owen's Dail statement yesterday.
She points out that she has set up an elaborate and "structured" response to the growth of crime, which includes reform of criminal law and a revamp of the courts system. She has also rightly dismissed the notion that there are "quick fix" solutions.
But the impression remains that, increasingly, violent criminals are less worried about being caught than ever, and that officials working on reviews and reforms have mistaken their own activity for action.
The Minister employed some statistics yesterday which she said would help "ensure that we have our facts right". She did not mention the growth in murders (up to 30 last year) but said that the level of general crime in 1995 was only 1 per cent higher than 1994 (which itself was 2 per cent up on 1993).
She admitted that the level of reported rape had risen by 25 per cent between 1990 and 1994. She also said the incidence of serious crime involving the use of fire arms decreased in 1994 and last year, but had to admit that while the number of burglaries involving weapons had fallen, robberies with firearms rose by 38 per cent.
These figures may give some solace to the Minister, but it is not shared by a public which believes violent crime and murder have become increasingly commonplace.
On rural crime the Minister said that there would be a "special tactical team of gardai ... in place very shortly to confront criminal activity in rural Ireland".
The current spate of attacks on the elderly in rural areas began at the end of September. How long does it take to set up a special tactical team"? And what will it do?
The Minister said that for security reasons she could not go into details, but people are likely to see this as an implausible excuse. The Minister might have considered allaying public fears by explaining even in broad terms what the team will do that is not already being done.
Policing policy will undoubtedly be open to question following the latest attacks. More policing initiatives in Garda management terms have been introduced over the past five years than throughout the previous history of the force. The latest is the "regionalisation" of the Garda which seems justified by indications that the divisional structure slowed communications and inhibited murder investigations.
But in a court in Dublin yesterday a garda explained how a man who threatened to shoot a woman in a post office was recognised by a number of gardai "when the security video of the crime was shown on Crimeline." What does that say about communications in the force?
For her part, the Minister has been ill served by a Government which resisted her plans to build more prison spaces. There is no pretence that more spaces will stop crime, but more and more robberies and violent attacks have been carried out by people on temporary release from prison simply because there is no room for them to serve their sentences.
The number at large after ignoring bail or temporary release conditions is estimated at 1,000. Is it not fair to assume that at least some of them might be contributing to a growth in crime?
The Minister has finally made some headway with her Cabinet colleagues, and got an extra £3.7 million in this week's Budget to spend on prisons.
The Castlerea prison scheme is being revived and a new women's prison is to be built at Mountjoy. The Minister has promised to increase prison capacity "within the shortest possible timeframe".
She has recognised that many crimes up to 80 per cent of them in some areas of Dublin are linked to illegal drugs.
Last July, Ms Owen introduced her anti drugs package. Since then several important initiatives have been taken, including the establishment of a State wide drugs squad by the Garda.
Much of the legislation needed for her initiatives is now being drafted and the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Bill is listed for this Dail session. But other efforts have stalled. New "drug strategy teams" in the cities have not yet been set up. The Revenue Commissioners (responsible for the Customs Service) and the Garda have yet to agree on how they can improve cooperation between them.
Gardai believe they know who is responsible for many of the attacks in rural areas. Arrests have been made and four people were jailed earlier this week for attacks on elderly people in Meath.
Traditionally, rural murders in the State were the result of local feuds or jealousies. Some of the latest killings may turn out to belong to that category. But others will prove to have been the work of criminals travelling to and from Dublin on the same day.
The farthest parts of the northwest and south west tend to be left alone, but improved roads have put much of the country within striking distance.
It is not the Minister's fault that such gangs exist, or that they have a growing propensity towards violence. Gardai are undoubtedly doing everything possible within their means to apprehend them.
The Minister said yesterday "The clear message must go out to those who commit these crimes that they will be caught and they will be punished in a way that marks the dastardly nature of their crimes." But Mr Quinn and other sufferers know something more than messages is needed.