Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

That is a message of defeat. We know the problem in getting convictions arises because the associates of criminals do not co-operate. Some do so out of choice and some because they are afraid. We know there is a culture of intimidation and fear associated with these gangs, but that is not a new problem. It was encountered in the United States and Italy when the authorities in those countries dealt with the Mafia. The problem was dealt with by the introduction of an effective witness protection scheme.

There is no point in the Taoiseach describing the problem to us when he has presided over it for ten years. We need a sense of what the solution is. Will the Taoiseach put a witness protection scheme on a statutory basis and make it effective? I accept that a witness protection scheme in a country like Ireland must be different from a scheme in a larger jurisdiction such as the United States. Will the Taoiseach make membership of a criminal gang a crime so the Garda has a different basis on which to pursue these gangs effectively?

The Taoiseach said that he did not want to simplify the problem but he was happy to simplify it ten years ago when he talked about zero tolerance. It is not a simple problem, I acknowledge that, but after ten years of presiding over 140 gun murders with only one out of every six cases ending with a conviction, in circumstances where in 58 cases the Garda know the perpetrators but could only convict 19 of them. What are the solutions? I will put forward some solutions, but what are the Taoiseach's solutions? Will this situation be allowed to continue? Will the Taoiseach simply say there is nothing we can do, as people are afraid to give evidence because they are being intimidated and so on?

See this speech in context