Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Just when most law-abiding citizens felt this country's crime problem could not get worse after the killing of Ms Donna Cleary some weeks ago, there was an extraordinary drive-by shooting on the M50 on Sunday morning. People could not believe that rival gangs could engage in such a shoot-out at dawn on a busy motorway. Most citizens are in disbelief that somebody — possibly an innocent motorist — was not killed, just when they thought things could not get any worse. It seems that young thugs are visiting nightclubs in flak jackets, with deadly weapons stowed away in high-powered vehicles which they have secured from their ill-gotten gains. They are prepared to risk a shoot-out on a busy motorway because they know the chances of being detected or convicted are minimal. It should be borne in mind, in this context, that Deputy O'Donoghue told the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis on 21 April 1997, a couple of months before he became Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, that "for Fianna Fáil there is no acceptable level of crime".

The Taoiseach will appreciate that the serious crime to which I refer is being fuelled by the drugs racket. That is what is really behind most of the serious crime we are experiencing. Cocaine-crazed young thugs are prepared to regard human life as expendable so they can get their hands on the lucrative and obscene wealth that comes from the drugs racket which is plaguing and ravaging many communities in Dublin and elsewhere. What is the Garda Síochána's response to this problem? Is the intelligence that is available to the force defective? Is the Garda looking for more powers? Is it looking for more resources? Does the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, understand not only that he has political accountability in this House for the law, but also that he has political accountability in the House for the Garda? I remind the Taoiseach of a statement made in the House on 27 June 1995 by the current Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue:

In every county old people spend sleepless nights in fear of marauding intruders. In every house parents are increasingly and justifiably in fear of the free availability of drugs. On every street of every town and village people walk in fear of crime. Our streets have been taken from us by criminals. They rule by threat, intimidation and force.

It was not true then, but sadly one can only come to the conclusion that it is true now.

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