Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

He would not have been spinning and manipulating in the way he has been. I encourage him to introduce this because his foot-dragging excuse that the proposed legislation is complex is unacceptable. The Minister and his Department have access to the finest legal minds in the country when drafting legislation and this legislation should be in place by now. Given the Garda Commissioner's full support for the proposed legislation, why has the Minister taken so long to deliver even the heads of a Bill?

Another neglected area on the basis of so-called "complexity" relates to the establishment of a DNA database. This was promised by former Minister, then Deputy McDowell in 2006 but we still do not have a draft Bill. Ireland is therefore at a significant disadvantage compared with other countries in solving crime. The witness protection programme is an abject failure yet alternative measures such as identity parades are at the research stage after more than ten years of Fianna Fáil in government and 130 murders. When does the Minister propose to take action to address the major dysfunction afflicting the witness protection programme and associated measures?

The State's inability to transpose the third EU money-laundering directive again allows people on the international stage to claim that Ireland's law lags behind other European jurisdictions and the United States of America. Why have we not introduced this vital legislation in the area of money laundering? We all know of the association between money laundering, drugs, gangland criminals and death.

John Fitzgerald, as the man responsible for the regeneration of Limerick and a man for whom I have considerable respect, is more familiar with its problems than most. He has appealed to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform for additional gardaí to facilitate having a high-visibility presence in at-risk communities. He has asked for a well resourced branch of the Criminal Assets Bureau to be established in Limerick. So far this has not happened. How can the Government justify the extraordinary outlay of taxpayers' money being pumped into the regeneration of Limerick city while, at the same time, relatively small amounts of money to increase community Garda visibility in gang-stricken areas are not forthcoming? The Limerick regeneration is a multi-billion euro project yet we are not putting together the minor but fundamental pieces of the jigsaw.

In the meantime, this week the Garda Commissioner informed the Committee of Public Accounts — I hope to see him appear before the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights soon — that, at any one time, up to 700 gardaí are tied up in court duties. This accounts for 5% of the force and costs the State more than €10 million per annum. The Government has failed to deliver on the post of court presenter and this situation is likely to deteriorate further. The DPP has indicated that cuts to his budget mean that his office will have to hand back the responsibility for prosecuting cases in the District Court to the Garda, which will not help the administration of justice. Thus the total and utter absence of joined-up thinking makes itself felt again.

This brings me to my final point relating to drugs. Criminal gangs would not prosper in this country if they did not have easy access to drugs. The Government likes to point the finger at Foxrock and abdicate its own responsibility in this regard. However, the bottom line is that Ireland is internationally seen as a soft touch when it comes to the importation of drugs. With one Customs boat, one mobile X-ray scanner and a handful of sniffer dogs, this is no surprise. Our smaller and private airports and our vast unpoliced coastline constitute a drug smuggler's paradise. While this gross oversight remains, criminal gangs will prosper, innocent victims will be murdered and the Government will have failed the people of Ireland.

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