Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I agree with the sentiments expressed by the Minister and Deputy Flanagan. I will be glad to see the Bill enacted. The Minister has acknowledged its similarity to the Bill I published on behalf of the Labour Party out of the conviction that intelligence gathering by the Garda Síochána is the best way to deal with this phenomenon that is growing worse. I hope we will see results from the legislative changes we have made in the Bill which will allow material gathered to be admissible in court, hopefully leading to a higher rate of convictions of those serious criminals who are attacking our society.

Deputy Flanagan is right. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is continuing with the tradition of heavy legislative output, with significant numbers of new laws being enacted when the most important factor is the application of the law and its enforcement. It is no longer easy to point to major lacunae in the law as being the reason that these gangland figures still hold sway in some communities.

Whenever the Garda Síochána (Powers of Surveillance) Bill was published by the Labour Party, I published the Witness Protection Programme (No. 2) Bill to put the witness protection programme on a statutory footing, as was advised by the superior courts. That will hopefully make a contribution whereby some of the more serious gangland figures will be more likely to be put behind bars on the evidence of one of their own gang members. We have not progressed in that regard but I agree it is not a gap in the law generally that means we have such a problem in so many parts of the country. Much of the problem is driven by the drugs trade, which affects my part of Dublin very seriously. The entire west of Dublin is under enormous pressure owing to drug pushing. New gangs are emerging all the time and it is a very serious problem. My sympathy is with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in seeking to contain the problem but it must be realised it is doing terrible damage to some of our communities. I hope the Bill we enact today will make a contribution towards better enforcement.

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