Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I am not going down that road. However, any person in Dublin who has a Glock pistol in his pocket is a menace to society and this House must tell the Judiciary that there are no special and excusing circumstances for carrying a weapon with the intent to endanger life. If you commit a serious offence which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, you can expect to take a serious hit if convicted of it.

While I accept that not all sentencing policy is effective as a deterrent, in this House we have, with the exception of Deputy Ó Snodaigh, a cross-party consensus that what is happening on our streets must be faced down. The people who think they can shoot others in the circumstances we have seen in recent months must realise that if they are caught with firearms in circumstances that give rise to convictions of the kind I have mentioned, they will go away for a long time, no questions asked and no frills. If they are repeat offenders, if they have ever had any history of such offences, and they are caught ever again, no quarter will be given and they will serve the minimum mandatory sentence.

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