Maybe, if we’re lucky, they’ll put the law on side of innocent victims
He wants the law changed to protect victims of burglary, and it seems there are quite a lot of them given that there were 25,000 burglaries last year. There's no reason to suppose there will be fewer this year because crime, like the cost of living, is on the increase.
The fact that the gardaí are not tempted by an extra €20,000 (mostly tax-free) to patrol the streets of the Shankill or New Lodge areas of Belfast doesn't mean there will be any more of them on the streets down here.
After all, they were not up North last year either when all those burglaries were happening.
In fact, they may as well be in the North as far as sightings of them on our own streets are concerned.
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy got no takers when he urged the delegates at this week's conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) to go North.
Given that sergeants are paid between €40,000 and €46,300 and inspectors a basic of between €46,000 and €52,000 without the hassle of sectarian violence, it's no wonder the commissioner's words fell on deaf ears.
After all, the criminality you know is better than the criminality you don't want to know, and the odds of bumping into P O'Neill's buddies down here are a lot longer. It would take a lot more than 20 grand to move the lads and lassies in blue.
He would have a better chance of getting Michael McDowell's 2,000 phantom cops to materialise up there.
During the course of the conference much was made of the plight of crime victims, but if you happen to find yourself in that position, don't expect too much by way of support or satisfaction from the state's criminal justice institutions.
Which brings us back to Enda Kenny's proposal on burglary. He said, and few would disagree with him, that the law as it currently stood was unbalanced against the victim. Many would say it was just unbalanced and leave it at that, without singling out burglary, especially when it ventures beyond the doorway of a court.
However, that's what Mr Kenny was talking about and made the point that the law, as currently applied, obliged a person whose home was being robbed to retreat or find a method of retreating.
In other words, do not reach for the shotgun, even if you had one under the bed. Instead, do the decent thing and make the intruder's life easier by handing him the money, and pray that he's not high on something. That way you might, just might, get away with a broken head.
Tony Martin reached for his gun when confronted with two burglars at his farmhouse in Norfolk in 1999, and what transpired was an extraordinary case. Many people will recall it because it opened up the entire debate of how far a house-owner can go to protect themselves and their homes.
Unfortunately, he killed one of them, Fred Barras, 16, and wounded his older accomplice, Brendan Fearon, 33.
Subsequently, Tony Martin was convicted of murder but, on appeal, this was changed to manslaughter, and the sentence reduced from life to five years in prison. He eventually became eligible for release on parole.
In Britain it's usual for prisoners awaiting release to be given a few days on the outside so they can become used to a normal way of life again.
Tony Martin was refused because wait for it he was described as a "danger to burglars" by the authorities.
Now, let's face it, even if Mr Martin were still in a 12-bore shotgun frame of mind only a burglar with a death wish would have gone anywhere near his house after what had happened.
Not even a cat burglar with nine lives would have been tempted to breach the aptly named Bleak House in the village of Emneth Hungate, Norfolk.
IT is an address which must have been in every self-respecting professional burglar's electronic organiser with a strident 'off limits' warning. Probably still is.
By contrast, Fearon, who had more than 30 criminal convictions and was jailed for his part in the raid, was granted legal aid to sue Tony Martin for his injuries, which included a leg wound.
He claimed his injuries had affected his ability to enjoy sex and martial arts and that he had suffered post-traumatic stress.
He was released from prison having served less than one-third of an 18-month sentence for heroin dealing, which was imposed after serving 18 months of a three-year sentence for the break-in at that farm.
Obviously under British law, a career criminal who dealt in heroin is less of a threat to society than a man trying to protect his own property from the likes of that criminal.
The loss of life was an extreme sentence for burglary, but Tony Martin always claimed he had acted in "blind panic" and self-defence when he shot both burglars.
On the other hand, the jury was convinced by the prosecution that he had lain in wait for the burglars.
Whatever the truth of the matter, quite a lot of people in isolated farmhouses around this country could identify with Tony Martin's situation, as could any house owner, and especially any one of those 25,000 victims last year.
Enda Kenny's concern brought to mind a worried publican who asked me for advice free on a security problem.
He had recently bought a substantial house near Cork, one that could be best described as an old country house, but in the suburbs.
Fronted by double wrought-iron gates, a long avenue led to the house, which was hidden from public view.
The problem was that the imposing gates were visible from the road and quite obviously a temptation for those lads who liked to clear out houses of antiques and pictures without bothering the owner.
At the prices he charged in the pub, he probably had a private gallery in the house because I know that I must have bought the odd painting or two for him over the years.
His dilemma was how to deter unwelcome visitors from venturing beyond the gates.
The answer, I told him, was simple and wouldn't cost a bob.
Display his price list on the gates and they would put the fear of God into anyone. Surprisingly, it wasn't appreciated.
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