Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The legislation will deal with powers of arrest, search and detention powers, powers to fingerprint and to take DNA samples. The Minister has stated he will introduce additional provisions on Committee Stage to address other issues relating to criminal gangs, the control of firearms, curfew orders and powers to place civil orders on individuals whom, as Deputy Rabbitte rightly said, act out of order in society. We have an enormous range of powers and, in so far as the current legislation is not strong enough, the Minister will strengthen it with, I hope, everybody's support in the House.

A small number of individuals, some of whom are very young and some of whom may be under the influence of drink and drugs, believe they can intimidate their communities. The only way to deal with that is through the Garda. I said last week nobody should recommend that there is another way to deal with this, though people at times get frustrated about these issues. The only way to do so is to have sufficient gardaí and a force of 14,000 would put Ireland much higher on a pro rata basis than every country in Europe.

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