Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputies for tabling these questions. I begin by expressing my sympathy and that of the Government to the family and friends of the late Aidan O'Kane. The Deputies will appreciate that I am greatly constrained in what I can say about the specific tragic incident which gave rise to these questions. The Garda investigation has reached a stage where it would be inappropriate for me to comment either on the detail surrounding the immediate incident or the circumstances which gave rise to it. That information will emerge in the fullness of time and we will look to see whether any lessons can be learned from it.

As we speak, I understand the Garda has issued a statement that a 16 year old male has been detained in Store Street Garda station. He will appear at the Dublin juvenile District Court No. 55, and will be charged with a serious offence. Several other persons remain in custody.

All I can say for the present is that this death is deplored by all right minded people. As I said, our sympathy goes to the family and friends of Mr. O'Kane, as well as to the wider community in East Wall. I understand the Garda and local community in East Wall work closely together. We hope this tragic incident will reinforce the determination to continue to do so.

Without wishing to comment in any way on the specific details of Mr. O'Kane's death, I intend to deal with two general issues raised in the Deputies' questions, namely, gun crime and public disorder. The stark reality is that there is a growing gun culture in this State which has inevitably had fatal consequences. I accept entirely that our priority must be to rid our society of illegal handguns. That has been a priority in Operation Anvil since its inception in 2005. Under that operation up to 30 November last, over 1,200 firearms had been recovered in Dublin alone and 1,000 in the rest of the country, a total of 2,200 illegally held guns in a relatively short space of time. The Garda will continue to address relentlessly the issue of illegally held guns.

The House will be aware that since my appointment I have expressed concern about the number of handguns that have been licensed in this country since 2004. I am aware the vast majority of licensed firearms holders pursue their interest legitimately. I am also conscious that many of them deeply resent any connection that is made to the issue of licensed handguns in the context of our crime problem. However, as Minister with responsibility for justice, I cannot avoid the reality that the overall number of weapons in circulation and the type of those weapons can add to that gun culture. The specific problem is demonstrated by the fact that 27 licensed handguns have been stolen since 2005 and a further 1,236 other firearms have been stolen during the same period, with a total of 373 recovered. Members can see that there is an ever increasing gun culture, both licensed and unlicensed, in this country.

The issue of handguns generally was highlighted by Mr. Justice Peter Charlton in a judgment last July when he said that any reasonable person is entitled to feel alarmed at the proliferation of handguns. That is the reason I brought forward proposals which include, with limited exceptions relating to Olympic sports, no new licences being issued for handguns and existing licences being renewed only if they meet the requirements of a much more stringent regime. I hope Members on all sides of the House will support these proposals when I bring them before the House. They are not designed needlessly to interfere with the rights of sporting enthusiasts, but to recognise the specific dangers that guns pose. I refer Members to what the Garda Commissioner said to the Committee of Public Accounts about the difficulty he has on the one hand trying to get illegally held guns out of the system while, on the other hand, licensing the same types of handguns under the lacuna that has arisen as a result of a number of court cases in recent times.

While a de facto ban on new handgun licences is already in place, my proposals will be given legislative form in the criminal justice (miscellaneous provisions) Bill which I will bring before the House early in the new year. That Bill will also tackle comprehensively the issue of airsoft guns. I wish to have an outright ban on these guns and to make possession of them in public a serious offence. The proliferation of airsoft guns has been brought to my attention by Members on all sides of the House. The Bill will also contain measures which the Garda Commissioner has suggested for tightening up the law to deal with knives. I have had many meetings with the Garda Commissioner and Garda senior management on the issue of illegal handguns. We have a duty to examine the existing licensing arrangements for handguns, which will allow a proliferation of handguns before we have even had an opportunity in the House to state what we believe should be public policy in this regard.

All Members of the House recognise the problems posed for communities by public disorder. There are groups of youths in many communities whose behaviour has no regard for the rights of others and who can cause considerable distress to their neighbours. It would be unfortunate, however, in the light of one or a few incidents to characterise all badly behaved young people as potential killers. Tackling public order issues is a priority for both the Government and the Garda, as is evident from the substantial resources that we continue to commit to front-line policing.

Some public comment has been made about the supposed failure of the anti-social behaviour order legislation. That may be based on a misunderstanding about the procedures set out in that legislation. It sets out an incremental procedure for addressing anti-social behaviour by adults and children. With regard to children, these range from a warning from a member of the Garda Síochána, to a good behaviour contract including the child and his or her parents or guardian, referral to the Garda juvenile diversion programme and to the making of a behaviour order by the Children Court. Moreover, it overlooks the point that the main legislation used by the Garda Síochána in dealing with public order is the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994.

Since 2002, when the Garda introduced Operation Encounter specifically to target anti-social behaviour, over 510,000 such offences have been detected. Most of these offences, of their nature, are only recorded as a result of Garda enforcement activity and the statistics paint a picture of extensive levels of Garda activity. I recognise, however, that dealing with public disorder is an issue on which co-operation between gardaí and the local community is absolutely vital. For that reason I am proceeding with the roll out of joint policing committees following the successful pilot phase. As a result of the pilot phase, a committee was established in the Dublin City Council area along with further sub-committees in each of the city's five areas. These committees enable local authority representatives and officials, the gardaí in the area, Oireachtas Members and community interests to get together in a structured way to discuss matters affecting the policing of their areas. I believe this approach has great potential.

The House will appreciate that I have confined myself to dealing with matters for which I have direct ministerial responsibility. However, we will ignore at our peril the fact that policing and the criminal justice system alone do not tackle all the issues that must be addressed.

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