Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I also appreciate the presence of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the House this evening. I regret the fact that this discussion is so short, but we will have another opportunity to debate this matter. It is 11 years since the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, promised that his Government would protect the people from gangland crime. He failed in this war, which the Government is losing. There have been 130 gangland murders in the past 11 years, but only 14 convictions. Despite the good efforts of the Garda Síochána, particularly in Limerick, this is an abysmal record nationwide. It is a poor conviction rate and too many innocent bystanders have lost their lives, the latest of whom was Shane Geoghegan, to whose family we extend our sympathy. The others include Brian Fitzgerald, Donna Cleary, Anthony Campbell, Darren Coughlan and Seán Boland. People are terrified, while criminals act with impunity, regularly handing down their own form of twisted justice.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and his colleague, the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, have spoken on national television about sections 71, 72 and 73 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, but those provisions are not working. They are unworkable. There have been no prosecutions taken since they were enacted and this is the most important legislation in the Minister's armoury. There have been no prosecutions taken, much less convictions recorded. What we need is 24-hour monitoring and surveillance of a type that again will require further legislation as adverted to by no less a person than the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, more than a year ago. It has not happened. We are waiting for years for a DNA database and it has not happened. We really need new laws to prevent criminals from associating and operating in certain areas. Deputy O'Donnell referred to exclusion orders and we will have a chance to deal with that issue at a later stage.

I remind the Minister we need a mechanism to arrest and charge these people and take them out of circulation because too many lives have been lost. The adverse effects in terms of mayhem, destruction and murder on not only the people of Limerick but also the people of parts of Dublin and many parts of this country is such that what we have is simply insufficient.

Ultimately, when convictions are recorded and when judges hand out lengthy prison sentences, we have the situation as in Portlaoise in my own constituency where it is reported widely as fact, and this is not rumour, and mention has been made in court under sworn testimony, that these crime bosses and gang lords continue to operate their evil empires from behind prison bars. This is simply unsustainable. The mobile phone blocking technology in Portlaoise is not working, pilot scheme or no pilot scheme. It is not happening. We have referred to this issue over a long number of months as being——

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