Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing time for private notice questions. I offer my sympathies to the family of Mr. O'Kane and the community in East Wall. I know many of the people there very well and often met Mr. O'Kane in the past walking his two dogs at the junction of Shemalier Road and Ravensdale Road, which is near Bargy Road where he was shot. I compliment the gardaí for the speed with which they investigated the matter and the co-operation they received from the community in East Wall.

This is an appalling crime. It is the worst crime that has been committed in my constituency that I know of since I have been in politics and is a new low in anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour is embedded in certain communities across urban areas, and overflows into many communities in smaller towns and cities in rural areas. It has been worsening and coarsening over time.

There is a question over handguns. The Minister stated that 1,200 weapons have been seized in the Dublin area, which amounts to 300 per annum over four years and is almost one per day. Some 1,000 were seized in the rest of the country. This is a substantial number of guns. Does the Minister know the breakdown of those between shotguns and handguns? I understand they are virtually all shotguns. There is no successful action by the gardaí in the seizure of handguns. From where are they coming? How are they getting into the possession of the people who use them? How are they getting into the possession of young people? Does the Minister have any answers?

The Minister concluded that there was a significant level of policing in the area. The 24-hour policing and Thursday to Friday policing to which he referred did not take place in the East Wall area, but in Sheriff Street which is a neighbouring community and not the area we are discussing. It looks very impressive but the Minister is talking about a no-go area. There should be no no-go areas anywhere in the city, but that is what it is coming to.

Operation Anvil should no longer be in existence. It was set up as an overtime operation because there were not enough gardaí to conduct the business. We now have almost 15,000 gardaí but Operation Anvil works on the basis of overtime. Many of the seizures are made during this overtime activity by the gardaí. This degrades much of the work done by them on a normal basis. The Minister should have a fresh look at this aspect.

Regarding anti-social behaviour, there is a serious issue of parental responsibility in the general area. Other Ministers should be in the House to discuss this matter. There are youngsters — boys and girls, pre-teens and those in their early and late teens — wandering around at all hours of the day and night with no parental responsibility involved. It is a matter which must be addressed. The community policing fora established must be expedited and given more resources because it is necessary to bring the various communities together. The experience of East Wall is also being felt in many other areas. There needs to be a cohesive response.

The gardaí are doing a reasonably good job but they are not responding effectively to the problems now embedded in the area. Since this situation happened in one area, we warned the Garda it would happen in other areas, and there would be fatalities and injuries. Unfortunately, we never expected it to happen in the East Wall area. There is a serious problem. Weapons are readily available, anti-social behaviour has worsened and there is a coarsening of society with young people being beyond the control of their peers, neighbours and parents. Unless the situation is addressed comprehensively it can only worsen.

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