Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan:

I am certainly aware of the availability of firearms, but not to that extent. It is something we monitor very carefully from an intelligence point of view. In terms of the availability of firearms, this year alone An Garda Síochána has seized more than 500 firearms. Some of those were very high-powered weapons, including AK-47 sub-machine guns and a variety of weaponry. It is something on which we remain very focused. Our intelligence on the activities of organised crime gangs is comprehensive. Thankfully, we have seen a very significant reduction, but we cannot be complacent about it because it takes a great deal of dedicated hard work. We have seen a significant reduction in gangland criminality but our intelligence infrastructure remains focused on it. I am not aware of what the Deputy just outlined but we are very conscious of the availability of firearms, and we carefully and constantly focus on reducing their availability.