Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

I compliment the off-duty garda who foiled an armed robbery within the past 24 hours. While I do not have his name, we should acknowledge the exemplary courage shown on this occasion and I hope he is recovering from his injuries.

It is easy for us to criticise the Minister and we have many grounds for doing so. I point to the substantial number of robberies when compared with 1998, the first year in office of the previous Government, when for the entire year only 61 armed robberies took place. Is the Minister not alarmed at the large number of robberies? Even in the figures he published yesterday, robberies from the establishment or the institutions or robberies of cash and goods in transit number 370 in the first quarter alone as opposed to 61 armed robberies in 1998, the first year of the previous Government. Figures reported indicate that 17 gangs are involved. How many gangs are involved in these robberies, including the IRA and related gangs?

What steps are being taken to address the problem? The Minister referred to Operation Delivery and the first quarter reflected a reduction from 21 to 12 in robberies of goods in transit. On the other hand, the number of robberies of institutions increased significantly, from 282 to 358. Would it be helpful to adopt a process initiated in Canada and change the law to criminalise gangs and make it an offence to be a gang member? If so, what are the Minister's proposals in this regard?

On a technical level, are security vans equipped with global positioning systems, GPS, and if so, why is it difficult to track them? I understand there has never been a robbery of goods in transport accompanied by a military escort? Who makes decisions on escorts? Why do the military and Garda Síochána not provide greater cover? If there is to be a concerted effort to end this type of armed robbery, surely action is necessary on all the areas I have raised, notwithstanding the general requirement to allocate more manpower and technological resources to the Garda Síochána, which I do not propose to address in detail at this stage.

See this speech in context