Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

The matter of safehouses to which Deputy Wall referred is of serious concern. In that regard and in respect of other matters, we have been engaging with the Garda at the interdepartmental committee on drugs and elsewhere. The Garda and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform are represented at the former, which I chair.

The most effective system of policing is the intelligence-driven and intelligence-led operations mounted by the Garda. The Garda drugs unit liaises with local units on the ground to gather local information and is supported by the community, an important part of this issue, so that it can get a profile of these types of drug operations. Recently, and as included in the programme for Government, profiling of lower level operators has been introduced. These are the people to whom the Criminal Assets Bureau might not have paid attention until now and who are now being paid attention at Garda district level. The Garda Commissioner has arranged for the training of officers at district level to ensure they are able to identify the common factors around the major gangs, namely, their lifestyles, the approaches they tend to take and other matters the Garda will not even discuss with me. There are indications that a number of these operations have been successful.

All communities should be aware of the issue of safehouses. Whatever information exists should be passed on to the Garda. Local policing committees, which have been established in co-operation with local authorities and the Garda, comprise a good vehicle for making this type of information available to the Garda so that issues can be pursued.

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