Tougher sentences to deter car thieves were advocated yesterday by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern. He cautioned, however, against what he called "the syndrome of lock them all up and throw away the keys".
"Mandatory sentences are something that our courts do not like but I do think we are moving to a situation that we do really require to have tougher sentences. There has to be a penalty, there has to be a deterrent," Mr Ahern told reporters.
"Most weeks of most years people are saying the deterrents should not be courts, prisons or locking up young people, that we should be into rehabilitation, early detection and reform. That's normally what the public say. My view is that you have to do a bit of both."
The Taoiseach was speaking as the Opposition mounted attacks on the Government's record on young offenders, following the injury of another garda in a hit-and-run incident involving a youth in a so-called "company car". These are old cars which should be scrapped but which are sold on. Young people can buy them for as little as €50 and then drive without tax, insurance or a road worthiness certificate.
The Department of Justice confirmed the Minister, Mr O'Donoghue, would sign a commencement order this week to put into action sections of the Children's Act 2001 not yet implemented.
The sections will allow judges, from May 1st, to place restriction orders on under-18s, placing them under a curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly and specifying locations and premises they may not visit. They will also introduce a new onus on parents to pay compensation on behalf of their children where their "wilful failure" to control a child is considered to have contributed to the child's offending behaviour.
Further provisions will allow judges to place parents under supervision orders, forcing them to control their children and to attend addiction treatment courses or parenting classes.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, however, accused the Government of "only acting in a crisis". He proposed compulsory identity cards for the under-25s and the setting up of night courts to tackle violence and street crime. He told RTÉ radio that more gardaí and more CCTV were also part of the solution and borrowed the British Labour Party slogan "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" to describe his preferred approach.
Labour, meanwhile, announced it would make a second attempt this week to have a private members' bill passed making car theft a specific offence and outlawing the supply of "company cars". The bill was voted down by the Government last year. The Road Traffic (Joy-riding) Billhad provided for new penalties of up to seven years in prison and for periods of disqualification from driving for up to five years.