Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

A great deal of that money is being spent as part of Operation Anvil, under which the relentless pressure advocated by Deputy Flanagan is being placed on criminal gangs. The events of recent days show that results can be obtained if patience is exercised. Such results are being obtained by the Garda.

I would like to speak about the steps being taken by the Garda to combat the growth of organised crime. The Garda authorities utilise intelligence-led operations to target organised crime gangs. All available intelligence is fully analysed and used in the strategic deployment of local and specialised operational Garda units to target particular gangs. Organised crime is being targeted on a number of fronts. Uniform and plain-clothes gardaí are overtly and covertly disrupting known criminals in the course of criminal activities. Specialist units from the national support services are also assisting operations which are dealing with various aspects of this type of criminal activity. The organised crime unit of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which was established in November 2005, has been expanded. It now has 70 members working full-time to target the various criminal groups which operate throughout the country. The unit works closely with other specialist units, including the Garda national drugs unit, the special detective unit and the emergency response unit, to target those suspected of involvement in organised criminal activity. Operation Anvil, which started in 2005 and was expanded regionally last year, is an intelligence-led policing initiative. The focus of the operation is the targeting of active criminals and their associates who are involved in serious crime by preventing and disrupting their criminal activity through extensive additional overt patrolling, such as static checkpoints by uniformed officers and mobile and footpatrols.

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