Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

There were some 75 murders with guns between 1998 and 2004. Proceedings were initiated in just 26 cases, or 35% of these. Convictions were recorded in 12 cases, or 16%. That is the performance. The Taoiseach should not give figures for arrests over drug abuse or other crimes. The figures I have mentioned are prosecutions and convictions. Some 12 of 75 murders with weapons between 1998 and 2004 ended in a conviction. This is a policing and a resourcing issue. It is not a courts issue.

It is disreputable of the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to spin a line for the media that the Judiciary is somehow at fault for what happened in Coolock. The Judiciary is not to blame. It implements the law as this House enacts it. If the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform does not reform the law or bring in the amendments which have been promised for two or three years, it is not the fault of the Judiciary.

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