Criminal law on burglary and trespass should be changed to favour the victim, Fine Gael has demanded. Party leader Enda Kenny said the law as it stands is unbalanced and there is an obligation on a person "whose home is being burgled to retreat or find a method of retreat".
A person who discovered a burglar in their home at 4am "must make a decision either to retreat and leave the burglars to do their business or defend his or her home, property and in many cases family".
Given the lack of balance in the law, he said, "if a burglar has a baseball bat and a homeowner has a shotgun, the homeowner is expected to leave aside the shotgun, get a baseball bat and have an equal contest".
Tánaiste Mary Harney said she had "always been a strong fan of the law being tilted in favour of the victim, although perhaps it was not always tilted that way in the past". When individuals are injured if they trespass on property, it is the responsibility of the owner and there are "huge issues in this area", she said.
There were 25,000 burglaries in the State last year and "it is difficult to appreciate the terror and concern of somebody whose house has been robbed" or the anxiety and fear if a homeowner finds somebody in the process of a robbery, Mr Kenny said.
If changes were required in the area the Minister for Justice would consider Fine Gael's suggestions, Ms Harney said. She added however that "I would not like to see us become a society like that which exists in the US where guns are so freely available that tragedies frequently occur".
"We have the best of both worlds here," said Ms Harney. While there were criminal elements in the State behind recent bank robberies and kidnappings, many burglaries were driven by drugs and the need to feed a habit. "That is why we must not spare any effort to deal with the serious drug problems that exist, as they are fuelling crime throughout the country."
