Fianna Fail's spokesman on Just ice, Mr John O'Donoghue, is on the right track in calling on the Government for a white paper on crime. There is justifiable concern over recent incidents but there is also an element of mild hysteria in circulation. Public debate has been characterised more by heat than by light and there is a great dearth of information on the true scale, nature and causes of the crime problem.
It would seem axiomatic, unless and until these are properly identified and understood, that the search for remedies is unlikely to be successful. Few public representatives appear to understand this and most seem incapable of bringing the debate beyond superficialities. Mr Charles Flanagan's contribution yesterday signalled one of the few exceptions.
The hapless Ms Nora Owen is a convenient target to be taunted over the shambles of her departmental policy. But most of the political spokespersons are badly briefed, if at all, on the issues. Simplistic demands to expand the capacities of the prisons, to put more gardai on the beat, to impose longer prison sentences, may yield newspaper headlines and television sound bites. But they are no substitute for a measured, informed approach.
There is a near total absence of any research on Irish crime or on the Irish criminal justice system. There is no endeavour to measure our problems against those in similar countries. There is no research into the root causes of crime in Ireland. There is no university or third level institution with a criminology department. Yet hundreds of millions of pounds are thrown annually into the criminal justice system without any attempt to measure its effectiveness, to define its priorities or indeed to co ordinate its multi faceted activities. If national policies on health, education or the environment were conducted on this basis, Ministers' heads would be rolling in all directions.
Three times in the past year the Commissioner of the Garda, Mr Patrick Culligan, has asked that the community through its elected representatives should define what it wants of the criminal justice system and what the force's priorities and role should be. Twice, the Director of Public Prosecutions has given it as his opinion that the existing adversarial system in the criminal courts is not suitable for many serious categories of crime. There has been no response from any political party not even to tell the Commissioner or the DPP that they are talking rot, if that is the view which is taken. Mr Culligan has declared bluntly that as things stand the force cannot meet the various demands which the community makes upon it. The prison governors are now saying something not very different. Yet we have a very large police force relative to our population. It is well equipped and fairly well paid. And as Dr Paul O'Mahoney pointed out in this newspaper during the week, we have a high prison population for a country whose crime rate is low, with more people already going to prison for longer stretches than in comparable jurisdictions.
Two things need to be done. Adequate provision must be made to facilitate suitable research to enable those in authority and indeed the general public to take an informed view, rather than merely responding to events. And the Minister for Justice should follow the advice of Mr O'Donoghue in leading public debate through a white paper or, better still, a fully fledged commission on the criminal justice system. She has a chance to show depth.