The death of 81-year-old Mr Paddy Logan at his remote farmhouse near Castlejordan, on the Meath/Offaly border was an atrocity that has generated anger and widespread concern in rural communities. Mr Logan died after being attacked, along with his older brother, Peter, by two young men who called to their home in broad daylight on Monday last. The men escaped with a small amount of money, having savagely beaten the two elderly brothers with a floor brush.
This death, along with the horrific murder of a baby in Tallaght at the weekend, brings the number of persons who have died in violent circumstances in the State so far this year to 28, according to the Fine Gael spokesman on justice, Mr Jim Higgins. It is a dreadful statistic. The figure would appear to point to a growing level of violence in our society and to a failure in policing methods, or to a mixture of both.
In the Dail last week, the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, provided figures for the number of murders committed in the first five months of the last four years. The killings rose from 10 in 1997, to 15 in 1998, 17 in 1999 and 21 this year. Some of these were gangland murders and the Minister confessed that these killings were a matter of particular concern. But while expressing anxiety about the number of violent deaths, Mr O'Donoghue sought comfort in the fact that we continued to have a relatively low homicide rate in terms of international comparisons.
It was the kind of political reaction that Mr O'Donoghue would, rightly, have fiercely attacked from the opposition benches. To try to justify a rising murder rate by making an implausible international comparison does not wash. The reality is that organised crime is growing in our society. And violent crime against the person, whether within these gangs or involving ordinary citizens, appears to be on the increase.
There is some evidence to suggest, however, that violent crime against old persons living in rural Ireland is cyclical in nature. In the early 1990s, small gangs from the settled and travelling communities preyed on old people in rural areas before a major Garda operation led to the capture and jailing of many of those involved. This type of crime resurfaced again in 1998 when eight people were killed in violent robberies. But it tailed off in the face of a vigorous Garda response. Since then, however, a further six people have died and there is an obvious need for a renewed Garda campaign to identify and apprehend those responsible. Less than five months ago, the Logan brothers were the targets of another robbery. On that occasion, a young man fled the house after the late Mr Paddy Logan produced a legally held shotgun.
The Labour Party spokesman on justice, Mr Brendan Howlin has accused Mr O'Donoghue of failing to cope with the upsurge in violent crime and of trying to disguise an unacceptable situation by saying crime levels in general had returned to 1950s levels. One would not expect a Minister for Justice who gave the electorate a promise of "zero tolerance" before the last general election, to admit to a crisis. But, since the beginning of 1998, a total of 14 elderly and vulnerable people have been killed in their own homes. That situation requires a focused response. Time is of the essence. The Minister should immediately meet with the Garda Commissioner and his own advisers to devise an effective strategy.