Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Taoiseach will be aware that there were two more gangland murders in my constituency at the weekend and three gangland murders the previous weekend, and that there have been 17 gangland murders so far this year. The Taoiseach will recall the fulminations of his colleague, Deputy O'Donoghue, in opposition to the effect that if a letter went missing or a bicycle was stolen, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform of the day should resign. Since then, the figures show that four gun murders occurred in 1998, 20 in 2003 and 17 so far in 2005. Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform one year ago claimed he was satisfied that a murder in Blanchardstown was what he called the last sting of the dying wasp.

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