Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Government approved the Bill, subject to some minor drafting, before the murder of Roy Collins.

With regard to the additional measures, I believed, after consultation with the Attorney General, my Department, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, they were necessary in view of what has happened in recent weeks. I strongly suggest, in the context of potentially moving gangland offences into the Special Criminal Court, that Deputies on all sides of the House give us their information relating to the issue of intimidation of jurors and witnesses. Obviously, under the Constitution we must be extremely careful about deviating from the use of ordinary courts. Empirical evidence to date shows that the courts in Limerick have been reasonably successful, indeed more successful than those in some other areas, in gaining convictions. However, recent events have, in my view, crossed the line and the Oireachtas must respond. It is not a decision we should take lightly but if there are people-----

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