MANDATORY life sentences for those convicted of their third serious and violent offence was among the tough measures to combat crime demanded by delegates.
The proposal, from the Harolds Cross branch in Dublin South Central, was passed by a majority vote on a show of hands. When one delegate demanded that it be put to the conference a second time, the result was the same. In its motion, the branch referred to the need to protect people from "career criminals".
Mr Alan Robinson, Dublin South Central, said that what was most frustrating was not that serious and violent crimes happened, but that the perpetrators were caught and then allowed to offend again, again and again.
"If people choose to seriously offend for a third time, they should be removed from our communities for the rest of their lives. All communities, rich or poor, urban or rural, young or old, deserve to be protected from such criminals."
The conference also passed motions calling for the sentencing of serious crimes to be consecutive rather than concurrent, the establishment of a commission on crime, reform of the office of the Director of Public Prosecution - the provision of facilities to make prisons places of reform, and the setting up of a central register of prescribed controlled drugs.
The party's spokeswoman on crime, Ms Liz O'Donnell, was unable to attend the debate because of a family bereavement. Senator Cathy Honan, who replaced her, called for a system of compensation for criminal injuries, which could be funded in part by fines imposed for criminal offences and, by forfeited bail.
She asked: "What kind of a system can provide free legal aid for the accused while ignoring the victim? This party fully supports the provision of legal aid to an accused person, but we object strongly to victims being treated as the poor relations."
Another area where the needs of victims were ignored was in the temporary release system, she said.
Dr Joe Hennessy, Tipperary North, said that lawlessness was the legacy of years "of the soft approach introduced by left wing parties, with its intellectual pretensions of championing civil rights". It had, in effect, curtailed the rights of the law abiding citizen.
He said it was time to reintroduce the old fashioned values of respect and discipline to streets, schools and homes. "It took Veronica Guerin's murder to galvanise this Government into putting real anti crime measures in place. It is a tragic irony that her murder brought about the very changes that she had been insisting were needed all along."
Dr Hennessy called for the introduction of blood and urine testing on arrest for all persons suspected of drug use. Random testing should also be applied in prisons, with harsh penalties for those in breach of the law.
It was also time to address the causes of drug addiction and crime. "Poverty, unemployment, drug abuse and crime are all interlinked."
Ms Mary Heaslip, Wicklow, said that high early school dropout rates, poverty, unemployment, drugs and crime were social problems which went hand in hand. She called for the development of two parent family units, with either or both parents in employment.
"We have created a monster which imposes harsh financial penalties on couples who might wish to marry and encourages the growth of single parent families," she said.
Ms Cait Keane, Dublin South Central, said that in the discussion on criminal justice matters very little consideration had been given to how society had changed over the years. "Public debate has been characterised more by heat than by light, and there is a great dearth of information. There is no policy, there is a struggling from one crisis to the next, with the responses made up along the way."
