Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I wish to share time with Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. I would like to start by extending my heart-felt condolences to the family of Shane Geoghegan. His premature death in this latest gruesome murder is an obscenity that cannot be tolerated in a civilised society. This may be the latest murder of an innocent bystander in the mayhem of gangland feuding, but it is not the first. The fact that a law-abiding citizen can be shot down in the vicinity of his own home has shocked the country.

The nature of crime has changed dramatically in this country over recent decades. Driving that change is the hugely lucrative illegal drugs trade. Drugs trafficking has led to the emergence of ruthless criminal gangs who are prepared to kill at will. We have seen murder levels not experienced since the civil war. There have been 161 gun murders in the past decade, but only 22 convictions. The other statistics are very interesting, and no doubt a solid indicator of Garda resolve, but the reality is 22 convictions from 161 gun murders. We ought to be agreed on two objectives. First, we must get the criminal gangs off our streets. Second, we must prevent a new generation of youth being manipulated into criminality. We are failing in both objectives.

The principal cause of the mayhem being acted out on our streets every single weekend is the wealth to be gained from the illegal drugs trade. Drug pushing and drugs misuse are now endemic in every city, town and village in Ireland. The criminal feuding gangs that struggle for control of turf have no regard for society or human life. While lucrative profits are to be made from supplying the demand for drugs, the crime bosses will continue to meet that demand and in the process poison thousands of young people. They are prepared to direct the use of whatever level of violence is necessary to protect their profits, and they have a high probability of getting away with it. The proof is that there have been 161 murders in the last decade and only 22 convictions.

When we are promised that no stone will be left unturned in the search to put the killers of Shane Geoghegan behind bars, all of us in this House wish that effort speedy success. However, it is somewhat to miss the point. What people want is that such crime should be prevented from taking place to the greatest extent possible. It was for this reason that last November, on behalf of the Labour Party, I published two Bills to combat serious crime. The Witness Protection Programme Bill 2007 is designed to place that programme on a full statutory basis, under proper and independent oversight. The Garda Síochána (Powers of Surveillance) Bill 2007, which has escaped the Minister's notice, would provide the Garda Síochána with appropriate powers to undertake electronic surveillance of criminal suspects. I was amazed that the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform responded to the publication of the Labour Party Bill to make admissible evidence gathered in this fashion by stating "By using bugged and intercepted conversations as evidence in prosecutions, the force ran the risk of alerting criminals to Garda investigative techniques". The ongoing slaughter in our cities and in our estates has clearly caused the Government to change its mind and I welcome that.

The fact is that modern crime needs modern responses and the Garda must be given the appropriate powers to enable them not just to detect crime and put those responsible behind bars, but also — to the greatest extent possible — prevent crime from taking place. Most people will be surprised to learn that the Garda Síochána currently has no legal powers to undertake electronic surveillance of criminal suspects, although those powers form a central part of the anti-crime armoury of most countries. The Labour Party Bill would give the force additional powers of surveillance, including aural and visual surveillance, the interception of communications, the recording of conversations without the knowledge of the parties and the surveillance of data equipment. It also includes appropriate safeguards, including a requirement that the surveillance would only be authorised in respect of serious crime by a District Court for long-term surveillance, or a garda not below the rank of chief superintendent for shorter term operations. In this respect, I welcome the statement by Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy at this morning's Committee of Public Accounts, when he said he would welcome the enactment of such legislation.

The Labour Party is willing to allow the Government amend our Bill if it better serves the purpose of protecting our citizens and putting the criminal gangs out of commission. The Labour Party does not approach the crisis now confronting our society in the confrontational and partisan way that the Fianna Fáil Party did when it was in Opposition. However, the very bona fides of this Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform are called into question again today, when one reads the cynically misleading explanation he gave for undermining the Human Rights Commission and for effectively destroying the core competencies of the Equality Authority. The House will recall that the Government singled out those two agencies early in the year for a merger. When the attempt at merging these two bodies, one in Dublin and one in Roscrea, had to be abandoned, the Minister drastically cut the funding to both.

The 43% cut and its decentralisation to Roscrea will effectively kill off the Equality Authority as we have known it. This has been in contemplation since September 2007, when the entire board was replaced. Whatever the vindictive motivation for the destruction of the core competencies of the Equality Authority, it is sick making to read in this morning's Irish Independent that the Minister is attempting to justify the destruction of the Equality Authority by the new claim that he is "diverting" the funding saved to "the frontline fight against crime". This post-hoc rationalisation is even more cynical when one realises that the destruction of the Equality Authority and the constraining of the Human Rights Commission will save only buttons, since the staff must be absorbed elsewhere in the public service and the 15 staff in post in Roscrea have been recruited from outside the Equality Authority. Threadbare "make it up as you go along"post-hoc rationalisations will do nothing to assist the frontline fight against crime.

The public mood is to assent to measures in the present crisis that people would not otherwise tolerate. The frequency and viciousness of gangland feuding is a challenge to the Garda Síochána and a challenge to society itself. The first test for any Government is the protection of its citizens. People cannot feel safe in several parts of the country, either on the streets or in their homes. The tragedy that has befallen the Geoghegan family has already been the burden of families of other innocent victims. The name of Shane Geoghegan is to be added to those of Eddie Ward, Anthony Campbell, Donna Cleary, Darren Coughlan, Sean Pollard and Brian Fitzgerald — all earlier victims of the drug barons who run the criminal gangs. A couple of weeks ago in Tallaght, a young man with no connection to or involvement with criminality, as attested to publicly by the Garda, was shot in the face in his own home at 6.30 a.m. and is still fighting for his life.

This cannot go on. There must come a tipping point where the State asserts its democratic mandate and asserts decent values. I hope the shocking murder of Shane Geoghegan will be such a tipping point. The people are saying that enough is enough. It is the Government's duty to put the gangs out of business. It is the Government's task to respond to new community-led initiatives to reduce the demand for drugs. It is the Government's responsibility to provide adequate policing which is appropriately resourced and equipped. In the most recent figures he has given to me, the Minister reveals that he has allocated 552 gardaí to Limerick — every single one of them is apparently needed — but only 248 to Tallaght, an urban area of similar population and no less complex in terms of policing requirements.

Tragically, more gardaí could not save Shane Geoghegan, but too few gardaí elsewhere invite repetition of the casual killings now all too commonplace.

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