Householders need protection of law, not criminals

Entertainer and magician Keith Barry will have struck a strong cord with many people at the weekend when he called for real and genuine reform of the law as it relates to those caught breaking and entering the homes of elderly pensioners. He believes anyone convicted of such a crime should receive a mandatory three-year prison sentence - in the same way as drink-drivers are, without exception, automatically disqualified from driving. Mr Barry was speaking after his grandfather was seriously injured and found unconscious following an apparent assault on him during the course of an aggravated burglary in Waterford last week. The elderly man (82), who lived alone, died from his injuries in the early hours of Monday morning. The well-known television performer later went on the airwaves and threatened to bring the country to a halt this week unless the Government did something about turning the tables on the criminals who prey on elderly and vulnerable citizens who live alone and in fear, night after night, of being robbed or attacked in their own homes. He described the Government's response to the attack on his grandfather as 'insulting' and called for emergency legislation to protect homeowners against attacks by intruders. His comments came as a Fine Gael Bill seeking a change in the law to give homeowners greater powers to protect themselves in their home against burglars was opposed by the Government. The FG Criminal Law (Home Defence) Bill would not allow any trespasser to sue the householder if they were injured while committing a burglary and would prevent any householder from facing criminal prosecution if they attacked an intruder while trying to protect their home and family. Civil libertarians have jumped up and down at the notion of this, calling it a charter to kill burglars. It is unlikely that a Government in this country would pass into law US-style legislation which allows lethal force to be used once a trespasser steps into a home, but the law as it stands at the present time most certainly needs to be urgently rebalanced in favour of the homeowner. Nobody necessarily wants a charter to kill but a charter to defend oneself is most certainly required. It is a complete nonsense that a burglar who may have entered someone's house with the intention of relieving the owner of some of his or her valuables and who is prepared to do you or a member of your family harm if you get in the way, can turn around and sue you if he trips and falls down the stairs while you chase him out of your house, and that you can be prosecuted in the courts if, while trying to defend yourself or your children, you break a burglar's arm with the swing of a poker. Most right-thinking people in this country - or any country - would find that reprehensible. We have been far too soft in this country on crime and punishment for too long and the result is tragic cases like Paddy Barry's. If the Government is not willing to give its support to the Fine Gael Bill, then it must speed up its own proposals. The complex legal issue has been with the Law Reform Commission for three years now but it must now bring forward its plans on how it proposes to protect people in their own homes from criminals. Robust legislation is required to replace the law as it stands, which requires homeowners to retreat from burglars. No-one is looking for a 'licence to kill' but homeowners must have every right to protect themselves, their families and their property if faced with an imminent threat.