Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The crime that the north and west side of Dublin in particular is experiencing is beyond parallel, as the murders are savage and violent. People believe there are strong links with dissident republican groups. The Independent Monitoring Commission stated in its report that the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA are heavily involved in all the crimes I listed, the crimes that specifically torture decent law-abiding communities so that people live in fear. I accept it is helpful that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is bringing forward legislation to deal with criminal gangs. However, does the Taoiseach agree that in addition to putting some of those people behind bars, we must take the oxygen of money away from those groups? If it is the case that, as is described, they are heavily involved in running brothels - the sex trade in this country-----

See this speech in context