Over recent weeks, we have seen acts of crime which have been circulated widely on social media, both in the city centre and within our communities. The key common factor in all instances is that they are acts of crime.
I am all too aware of the social issues faced in many areas and the lack of support and funding so many youth groups in particular are starved of. As a football and basketball coach of 20 years, and as someone who has volunteered with youth organizations, I have seen first-hand the positive effect having these activities in a community can bring. They act as a social outlet and do not allow young adults and teenagers to be courted by those involved in organized, day-to-day, crime.
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As a State, we foot a bill of €50 million per year on free legal aid for repeat offenders. I find this extraordinary. I fully agree with a person being awarded free legal aid when they are caught committing a crime for the first time, should their means qualify them for it. However I cannot see the merit or awarding the same person free legal aid over and over for the same offence.
We see many cases before the local courts on a daily basis where a defendant may have 50, 60, or 70 previous convictions – many for the same offence and all the time the legal tab picked up by the rest of us.
Once can be argued as a mistake, repeat offences are simply inexcusable.
A fairer system
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I have been elected since 2014 but have lived in the heart of working-class communities all my life. I see first-hand the hard work and effort a majority of people put in to maintain a good community, to provide for their families, and to live as good a life as possible.
Equally, I see a minority who have no interest in any of the above. I see the torment caused to good people on a daily basis and I see the negative impact it can then have on a wider community.
I do not advocate for locking everyone up and throwing away the key, I advocate for a fairer system where those who know how to play the system finally pay their way if they so wish to choose a life of crime. We need a proper support system in place for those with addiction issues and harsher penalties for others who choose crime as a way of living.
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The public in general are frustrated, the gardaí are frustrated, the rights of good community and law-abiding people seems to have been lost as a priority, all while the conveyor belt operates as normal.
It is time to change that by admitting we have made it far too easy to opt for a life of crime, and then start building up our community supports and addiction services as two pillars to start with.
Mike Cubbard is an Independent Galway City Central councillor and a former Mayor of Galway city.
