PAPER ROUND: Right-wing solutions to crime - increased policing, tougher sentencing, more prisons - were advocated in several regional papers this week, after crime statistics for 2000 revealed a worrying rise in violent crime.
"Far too many people are receiving suspended sentences or having part of their sentence suspended," Supt Michael McGarry told the Waterford News & Star.
"We have to rid society of these violent thugs and if this means that more prison places must be made available, that is what should be done," he said.
But when greater sanctions are put into effect they are often criticised by people he called "do-gooders" who advocate leniency. "But where are these people when a victim is in the intensive care unit of Waterford Hospital?" he asked.
Members of Cavan County Council are unlikely to be classified among these so-called "do-gooders". They want to meet the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, reported the Anglo-Celt, to express their concern at sentencing policy in the region's courts where they feel criminals are often freed on nominal bail to commit further offences.
This concern is shared in the Limerick Leader editorial: "The present regime of derisory prison terms may be welcomed by those who murder and maim but what message does it send them? It tells them that crime pays."
It continued: "An important part of rehabilitation is punishment. Sentences should be such as to act as a deterrent to further lawlessness."
The rising crime figures for 2000 featured in most regional papers this week, but little coverage focused on the underlying causes of crime or how they might be addressed.
The Corkman's editorial pointed to drink, drugs, and increased aggression among young people, especially young men, as contributing factors.
In addition, it said: "Theorists will point to children's environment, parenting, lack of discipline, the breakdown of the family, etc as reasons for this malaise."
But the paper did not elaborate on these factors, or others (such as poverty), saying instead: "It is time to end this talking shop and start coming up with concrete ideas to fix society's ills and restore confidence in our streets."
Its suggestions? "More gardai on our streets would be a start. Stiffer penalties for violent crime and severe penalties for those who do not show the proper respect due to our police force."
And we all "have our part to play in helping the gardai", said the Waterford News & Star. A phone call is often all that is needed, the paper said.
"Fighting back against the thugs, the drug dealers, the drunk drivers and the fraudsters and anyone else with a disregard for the law is the only way we can walk our roads and streets in safety," said its editorial.
The lowest crime rate in the country was in the Roscommon-Galway East Garda Division, reported the Roscommon Champion.
While the statistics "paint a pleasant picture of life in the region", the paper noted that "such figures mask the huge toll that criminal acts have taken on hundreds of families throughout the county".
A recently retired Garda sergeant in Co Kerry, meanwhile, told the Kingdom about what he sees as society's coarsening attitude to crime.
Sgt Albert King told the paper: "When I was younger, the whole country would follow a murder case as there were so few of them. These days they don't even cause a stir - we are so used to them."
While spiralling crime figures prompted outraged responses from editorial writers, crime nevertheless gives good copy and many regional papers featured crime stories in their pages.
(The Guardian, for example, has a "Crime File" listing some of the week's local lawbreaking.)
Away from crime, the Westmeath Examiner demonstrated an excellent method of highlighting the successes and failures of a county council or relevant authority.
Its regular feature showed local landmarks or amenities or services that have been successfully developed and maintained, as well as those that need remedial work.
The paper this week published a review of some of the material which featured in its pages in recent months.
These included the under-development of the river Brosna as an amenity, as well as St Mary's Hospital, "one of the most important historic buildings in Mullingar", which has been "allowed to fall into a state of dereliction".
The presentation format, a series of photographs with an extended caption describing the current situation and the corrective action not yet taken, is very effective.
But, as the paper commented about its review this week, "what is most striking in all of the pictures . . . is the virtual lack of action on each item. Many of the faults we've focused on relate to the environment and, if remedied, could make a lot of difference to life in these parts."