Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Gabhaim buíochas le Deputy Rabbitte as ucht a chuid ama a roinnt liom ar an gceist rí-thábhachtach seo. Rinne mé iarracht leasú a chur síos agus, go bhfios dom, níl an Leas-Cheann Comhairle ag glacadh leis ag an am seo, ach b'fhéidir go mbeidh raic agam amárach faoin leasú sin.

I welcome the opportunity to speak again on the issue of serious organised crime. We addressed it last week and I will not repeat at length my contribution to the statements on the murder of Mr. Shane Geoghegan. Many of the points I made then are reflected in the amendment I tabled on the Government amendment to the motion from Fine Gael. They include the need for secure digital radio to be rolled out in Limerick as early as it is rolled out in Dublin. Limerick is scheduled to receive new secure radio a year later than Dublin.

There is also a need to roll out the dial to stop drug dealing confidential freefone initiative to Limerick and the rest of the State immediately, and not in the hotch-potch way it is rolled out now. There is a need for practical witness protection and greater and faster civilianisation of the Garda to free up fully trained gardaí from behind desks to fight crime. More funding is needed to tackle the drugs crisis. More sniffer dogs are also required. Delays in the justice system, including the processing of Criminal Assets Bureau cases, need to be addressed and CAB needs to focus on drug related crime. The money confiscated should be ring-fenced for the communities worst affected by the ravages of the drugs crisis. There is a need to reverse the budget cuts to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

I have a series of further proposals I was unable to include in my contribution last week owing to time constraints, and I have raised them previously. Prison must become a more effectively deployed part of a sustainable response to gangland crime. The problem of minor offenders entering the prison system and emerging at the other end as hardened criminals in league with gangs must be addressed, and to date nothing has been done to address this. Prison sentences must be used as an opportunity to remove serious criminals from their associates and potential associates. The placement of such prisoners must be intelligence led, and in making orders that apply post-release, judges should reinforce these efforts and aim towards maintaining the disassociation of serious senior criminals on the outside.

The super-prison planned for the Thornton Hall site and whose status I do not know given the downturn and the financial problems of Mr. McNamara is a retrograde step. Like the US model it is based on, gangs will flourish if the Minister proceeds with the project. The prison estate must be refurbished for humanitarian reasons but expanding it substantially on one site is not the way to go. The issues raised last month by the first report of the new Inspector of Prisons and Places of Detention, Mr. Justice Michael Reilly, must be addressed. He identified serious shortcomings in the educational facilities of our prisons. For younger offenders, their time spent in prison must be focused on preventing them from re-offending, and this means investing more in educational facilities and supports in prisons.

Regarding legislative defects, there is a urgent need for legislation governing covert surveillance which is compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights, and that legislation must take heed of the criticisms of Mr. Justice Morris and others and the jurisprudence of the ECHR. It must protect against unwarranted invasions of privacy and harassment and put in place a sound network of frameworks and thresholds through which the Garda or DPP can argue a case and seek judicial approval for the use of covert investigative techniques in serious cases. This evidence, once gathered properly and in compliance with ECHR law, would then be admissible in court and we need movement on this from the Government. I welcome the decision to publish it but we need to see it more quickly so we can deal with it in this House and make sure it is compliant.

I urge caution on some proposals that have been floated by well-intentioned but ill-informed political representatives. During the painful and fearful aftermath of yet another callous murder there is a temptation to dismantle the safeguards and protections all good citizens currently enjoy. There is a temptation to demand regressive and ultimately ineffective measures such as internment, non-jury trials and mandatory sentences. This temptation is understandable but must be resisted.

The fact that criminal trials are undertaken in front of a jury is not the reason gangland criminals operate with impunity. Juries have been proven to be more than willing to convict when a properly evidenced prosecution case is made before them. In the absence of a jury the risk of a miscarriage of justice or the real perpetrators getting away with their crimes is substantially increased. Mandatory sentences have been proved not to have reduced crime in other jurisdictions. Many proposals aired at present are dangerous, short-sighted, will fail victims, and will not deliver justice or reduce serious crime.

The Government must focus on tackling the drugs crisis. Resources for Garda drug squads must be doubled at least and extra sniffer dogs and modern equipment such as secure radios for the Garda are needed. There must be a focus on highly addictive drugs such as crystal meth and crack cocaine while continuing to focus on the major problems with heroin and cocaine. The decision to cut the funding for local drugs task forces must be reversed and resources must be increased to reflect the growth of the drugs crisis over the past year. In the face of a drug epidemic it is ludicrous to cut funding and curtail the activities of drugs task forces or to block or stall the work of local organisations working to prevent the spread of drugs and to facilitate rehabilitation.

If we do not want further murder and community destruction, we need to get serious about tackling the drugs crisis, and we need serious investment in local drugs task forces. As a member of my local drugs task force, I know the extent of the drugs crisis. I know how these organisations are struggling to cope on the moneys they have currently. They have been evaluated and found to be very effective in what they do with their moneys. I hope the Minister has listened to what has been said in the House tonight and that he will tackle the drugs crisis.

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