It's all remarkably simple really. A robbery takes place and the victims are at a loss. They report it to the Garda but they don't feel optimistic about a conviction. But lately there's been talk in North Kerry that people other than the Garda have been having more success in sorting things out.

Those people use different crime-solving methods. They find out who the thief's friends are. They ask these friends to act as an intermediary and explain the pain that has been caused by their crime. They request that the stolen goods be returned. Happily, in a number of cases, the perpetrators realise the error of their ways, and do just that.

Welcome to the new method of delivering justice - Tralee style. It's not really the kind of thing you expect from this bustling north Kerry town but it's been going on recently and it is all thanks to Sinn Fein.

Party councillor Mr Martin Ferris says no one has been threatened or intimidated. He presents what has being going on as "humanitarian missions" designed to be helpful to the victims, who in some cases had been robbed of possessions of great sentimental value.

Some people, particularly the Garda, are concerned at these developments. They see some similarities with events which occurred around 1995/96, also in the run-up to a general election. At that time a group calling itself Kerry Concerned Parents Against Drugs was set up. The movement gathered considerable momentum because parents were worried about the increasing availability of drugs in the county.

According to Garda sources, there were up to 20 attacks around that time including "wallopings with baseball bats, guns shoved in people's mouths, and homes wrecked". There were even reports of an attempted tarring and feathering.

No charges were ever brought against anyone in connection with these incidents. Garda sources say they knew who was involved but found it impossible to get anyone who had been attacked to testify.

Mr Ferris's humanitarian missions are being described by gardai and other politicians as a "typical" stunt. They expect to see more of them in a constituency which should prove one of the more interesting in the next general election and may well see Mr Ferris land a Dail seat.

Speaking to The Irish Times by telephone from Seattle this week, Mr Ferris said Sinn Fein's activities were not a publicity stunt, but were designed to help people who had been failed by the system. The people concerned, he says, were genuinely in distress and despite having gone to the Garda felt there was no prospect of their goods being returned.

There had been a series of thefts in villages around the town, he said, often connected with funerals and weddings. Houses, businesses and cars were robbed.

Word got round that Sinn Fein could help. According to Mr Ferris, who served a long prison sentence for IRA gun-running, victims made approaches to them and they set about helping. Once they had established the Garda had already been involved but were "not in a position to do anything" they swung into action and in recent months thousands of pounds worth of property had been returned.

They do not act on suspicion alone. "Some people told us they were told by gardai the property would not be recovered. We were able to recover property for about five or six people over the space of a few months," said Mr Ferris. He is in the US on behalf of Sinn Fein as part of a 10day trip, which is taking in Seattle, San Francisco and New York, to "brief people on the present situation" in the peace process.

Mr Ferris, who is known in the constituency as a hard worker with a "can-do" reputation, said there was no intimidation but rather it was the "personal approach that got through to people".

"There have been allegations of intimidation, threats and the smell of cordite from other political parties but they're only covering their own position when they find themselves in controversy over accepting donations from corporate bodies."

This is a thinly veiled reference to Fine Gael's recent troubles over a donation from TelenorEsat. Asked by the local newspaper, the Kerryman, what he thought of Sinn Fein's crimebusting activities, local Fine Gael deputy Mr Jimmy Deenihan said the situation was sinister and a threat to democracy. "Politicians cannot be ambivalent about law and order . . . The gardai are the only police force in this country. We cannot accept any other force masquerading in the name of law and order. The fact that Martin Ferris contacted the Kerryman himself about this means it's part of their strategy," he told The Irish Times.

Mr Ferris, who works full time as a public representative, admits he was the one to contact the newspaper with the story. He says that only after the matter was raised by the gardai during a recent meeting did he realise their endeavours had become public.

THAT all this is happening at the back door of the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, is embarrassing. Mr O'Donoghue has asked the Garda for an urgent report on the matter. Attempts by Sinn Fein to subvert the law-and-order system would not be tolerated, he said.

The activities referred to by Mr Ferris amounted to "nothing less than blatant intimidation". He also believes it is electioneering and rejects Sinn Fein claims that gardai in Kerry were not properly resourced. The number of indictable crimes reported for Co Kerry in 1996 was 1,536, and the figure for the year ended 1999 showed a drop of 179 to 1,357 crimes reported, he said. The detection rate is 48 per cent, making it higher than the national average of 42 per cent.

The robbery of thousands of pounds worth of cigarettes and cash from one village shop last month will be among the crimes included in the figures for 2001. The shop, in a village outside Tralee, was robbed twice in 10 days. Kathleen, who does not want to be identified, says gardai told her they were fairly certain they knew who was involved.

She and her husband found it very traumatic, especially since they did not have insurance on their cigarette stock because the premium was too high.

Mr Ferris has said Sinn Fein's interventions are made after they are approached by people who feel the Garda would be unable to act. However, as Kathleen tells it, it was her husband who was approached by two people they know locally and asked what happened and how much was taken.

"I suppose my husband would have known that they had been involved in clamping down on drugs. He would have known they did not like that sort of carry-on."

A few days after that conversation he was told by the same people that their stock of cigarettes had been in Tralee until recently but that a middle man had sent them on to Limerick and they were sold for a fraction of their cost. "They told us they could not get the cigarettes back but said they would try and get the money."

While they received considerably less than what they were worth in "compensation", Kathleen feels it is better than nothing. "They didn't say how they did it. A garda told us `the second police force' had called to a house in Tralee and he said it wasn't very helpful to the investigation. We said we hadn't asked them to do it."

The gardai are still investigating this crime and say to date they have received no offer of any information from Mr Ferris.

KATHLEEN feels strongly the Garda do not have enough powers and says she and those in her local community are becoming increasingly frustrated at people escaping justice. "The gardai should be let do their jobs. They know damn well who is committing the crimes but the law says it has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt," she says.

"That's a good system for us all but those fellas are only spitting and laughing at the gardai, jeering at them. When it happened people told us we should really go to Martin Ferris, that he had recovered jewellery and handbags for other people.

"To be honest I'm surprised by the number of `right-thinking people' who agree with this. Martin Ferris has huge support. I'm delighted to have some of the money back that we lost. I only wish it was it all.

"It was great to get it back but it shouldn't be their way. Whether it's alarming or not, there is huge support from ordinary people who feel powerless," Kathleen said.

Nationally, Mr Ferris remains a close associate of the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, and was one of the party's representatives who discussed the Northern Ireland situation with President Clinton during his visit to Ireland last year.

In a strongly republican town his chances of winning a Dail seat in the next general election are strong. In the 1997 general election, he secured 5,691 first preferences, trailing Mr Dick Spring of the Labour Party and Fine Gael's Mr Jimmy Deenihan, but finishing ahead of Mr Denis Foley, who later overtook him with the help of transfers.

Mr Ferris has since been elected to the county council and Tralee Urban Council.

It is believed Mr Spring intends running again but his constituency profile has been low. Mr Deenihan's is regarded as a safe seat. However, Fianna Fail is in considerable disarray and keeps delaying its selection convention, apparently for fear of what may develop at it. Party headquarters want two candidates selected, one from Tralee and another from the northern end of the county around Listowel, but no one on the ground seems interested in its opinion.

Mr John Brassil, a county councillor, and one of those hoping to be selected by Fianna Fail, is convinced that Sinn Fein's recent activities are a "political stunt". The state of the Fianna Fail party locally, he acknowledges, plays right into the hands of its opponents.

"Sinn Fein are determined and they are very active in the area. There also seems to be no limit to the amount of funding the party puts into this area."

On his chances of making it to the Dail, Mr Ferris is cautiously optimistic. "Sinn Fein have very capable people in the North Kerry constituency who are motivated by conviction. If we do succeed in taking a seat it will be for that reason.

"We won't be presumptuous but on the responses we have been getting we stand a very good chance of taking one this time."