Death penalty debate should be reopened, claim councillors

IT may be time for a debate about the re-introduction of the death penalty, according to two Clare members of the Mid-Western Regional Authority.

The body met in Ennis on Wednesday afternoon and there was a lengthy discussion about crime in the region, with almost all members expressing concern about lawlessness of one type or another in the region.
Lissycasey Councillor PJ Kelly said that he didn’t wish to comment on specific incidents but he was critical of how Irish prisons are being run.
“In olden days prisons were called penitentiaries because they were places of punishments. Now prisoners are effectively guests of the State and have facilities some of us only dream about.”
He said that not long ago the death penalty was in place and he said that there may be a mood for a referendum on its reintroduction in the future.
“A fear of punishment is no longer a factor for anyone who because of its [punishment’s] absence decides to indulge in anti-social behaviour,” he said.
Kelly added that if there had been sizeable numbers involved in community service it would have helped during the severe weather.
Councillor Gerry Flynn claimed that gardaí are getting frustrated by a revolving door system. “In a lot of cases judges are out of step with modern living and with gardaí. Gardaí are losing interest because they put so much work into preparing a file and they meet the person the next day and they get the two fingers.”
Councillor Pat Keane said that the wheels of justice need to turn faster. “We’re too lax when someone is caught for a crime. The first thing is that a file is prepared for the DPP and it takes four months to come back. There’s a need to act much quicker.”
He also said that labelling certain urban areas as disadvantaged just gave people an excuse for crime.
“There should be no such thing as calling an area of a city deprived, it’s just giving an excuse to commit crime. If you were living in a very isolated area of the country you could say you are being deprived from the facilities that other people have.”
Councillor Keane said that the facilities in prison can be so good that inmates actually don’t want to go out on temporary release for Christmas.
Clare Green Party member Brian Meaney proposed that the meeting pass a motion asking TDs for the Mid-West to examine the issue of capital punishment.
“If we, as a regional authority, were to vote to request Oireachtas representatives to examine it we would be doing something more than having a discussion and tut-tutting.”
Councillor Kelly said that while he wouldn’t propose a motion on having a public debate on capital punishment, he would like to have a “straw poll” to see what members thought. However, he agreed not to go ahead with this after some urging from chairman Leo Walsh.