Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I congratulate Deputy Charles Flanagan for bringing this motion to the Dáil. Irrespective of how the Government massages the figures, it can only reach one conclusion, namely, that it is losing the battle against gangland killings.

My greatest concern, however, is the Limerick situation because while everyone accepts the Garda is doing a wonderful job there, the battle is still being lost. There are literally 100 reasons why gangland crime is escalating, and everybody accepts the drug trade is at the heart of the problem. Illegal drugs and drug dealers mean criminal activity spilling into the lives of people in ordinary communities. As we all know, this scourge is moving into every community in the country. The competition for rank or market share — the "patch", as they call it in the market for drugs — is extreme. The only deterrent for those criminal scumbags is to eliminate each other with the gun. No democratic society can tolerate this carry-on, and if it is left to fester it will bring much greater grief to those families that are far removed from the criminal gang communities.

Our courts system depends on witnesses telling their version of events truthfully to judge and jury, but criminals are intervening by treating such witnesses with the same fate they mete out to each other and few people take such threats lightly. Our Garda Síochána will continue to be accepted by most people as an even-handed respected law enforcement agency for the protection of all law-abiding citizens. However, criminals exercise their own brand of power on people who do not wish to be involved. Many cases now come to court where witnesses change their evidence, interference with jurors is suspected and where fear and intimidation stalks the system. Ordinary people around the country know very little about this dangerous and murky matter, but many people are gripped with fear of intimidation. That is why the Government is guilty of turning its back on crime, when so much more could be done to limit this criminal scourge.

For instance, will the Minister of State say why it has taken so long to implement covert tapping as regards all criminal activities, irrespective of where or who the criminals are, and have this material presented as evidence in court? I also believe that in murder cases the right of silence should not benefit the criminal in any shape or form. Indeed, the witness protection scheme must be able to assure those witnesses who want to break free of the cycle of fear that it can protect them. Should witnesses and jurors continue to be intimidated, as in Limerick and other places, consideration must be given to some cases being held in the Special Criminal Court. That is not something I readily approve of, but there is no alternative if this intimidation continues.

Members of this Government and its predecessor, including the Ceann Comhairle in the past, have spoken eloquently about zero tolerance. We are a million miles away from zero tolerance now——

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