Check Against Delivery

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

 Response by Minister of State John Perry

I would like to thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence who is unable to be present due to other business. The Minister shares the widespread outrage at the type of criminality to which the Deputy refers and he fully appreciates the concerns of communities who find this violence taking place on their streets. The brutal nature of these crimes is a stark reminder to us of the mentality of those involved in organised criminality and the danger which they pose to our society.

The Minister is in ongoing contact with the Garda Commissioner about all aspects of serious crime and the Gardaí will continue to bear down heavily on the activities of those involved in gangland crime. The only effective way to combat organised crime is by disrupting and prosecuting those involved in its operations, and especially the drugs trade which is at the heart of much of its profits. There have been extensive Garda operations launched against gangs as well as significant drug seizures in recent months and weeks. These have included a major programme of more than 200 searches which were carried out nationwide under Operation Wireless, resulting in the seizure of a substantial amount of drugs and more than 100 arrests. Overall, An Garda Síochána seized drugs of an estimated value of €65.5m in 2011, with drugs seizures estimated at €90.4m for the first nine months of this year.

Equally, the Gardaí are determined - in cooperation with their colleagues in the PSNI - to continue to tackle robustly the activities of so called dissident republicans. It is clear that some of these groups have inextricable links with organised crime.

It is worth noting that, the most recent recorded crime statistics, which were released at the end of September, show that most categories of crime are in fact falling, and this reflects well on the work of An Garda Síochána. For the 12 month period to the end of June murder had decreased by 8% and assault offences were down by 9.7%.

We shouldn't underestimate the difficulties the Gardaí face in trying to prevent gangland killings and related crimes and in bringing the perpetrators to justice. These crimes are carefully planned and are carried out by people who are very familiar with criminal and forensic investigation techniques. Moreover, despite the clear risk to themselves, members of gangs will not generally cooperate with Garda investigations. The Minister understands that, despite these difficulties the Gardaí have been able to bring people before the courts, particularly in relation to a number of high profile killings in the past couple of years, although it will be some time before those cases are disposed of. As Deputies will be aware, the prompt action of Gardaí resulted in the arrest of a man close to the scene of the horrific killing in Killester this week. The House will appreciate that because a person is in custody in relation to the killing it would not be appropriate for me to go into detail about this particular incident.

It would be wrong to characterise this as a budgetary matter. There has been gangland violence for some time in Ireland, and the number of murders was in fact higher when Garda numbers were higher than they are now. It is also unrealistic to expect that the Commissioner would devote his entire resources, to individually protecting people who are routinely trying to avoid the Gardaí so that they can continue to engage in criminal activity. Such an approach could only come at the expense of ordinary Garda activity to protect the community generally.

There is already very strong anti-gangland legislation in place. The Minister has made it clear to the Garda Commissioner that, if he feels there are other measures which might be taken in this area, the Minister will look at that very positively. But it is misleading to suggest that there is some simple legislative solution which will prevent dangerous criminals from trying to kill each other. If that were the case it would have been enacted years ago.

Furthermore, the Garda Commissioner is leading what he rightly describes as "the most fundamental restructuring of An Garda Síochána" since its foundation. There is a clear imperative to free up Gardaí so that they are available for frontline operational purposes, and this is precisely the strategy which the Commissioner is pursuing. The Commissioner enjoys the full support of the Minister and the Government in continuing to confront criminal gangs and in bringing those involved to justice.

ENDS