Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

That document formed part of the Cabinet discussions and considerations; it was part of the brief and I referred to the conclusion of that document. The strong and hard evidence from the Garda is that in Limerick and other areas there has been intimidation of jurors. This has been confirmed by such people as the Limerick State solicitor who has indicated in recent years there is hard evidence of the drop in juror numbers during gangland trials which have taken place, especially in Limerick. There is a suite of evidence in that respect. I suggest such information is subject to Cabinet confidentiality since it was part of the decision making process and the Cabinet's deliberations.

The matter of the surveillance Bill has arisen previously. The Garda believed the time had come for the use of certain evidence obtained by existing electronic surveillance and that this would be relevant in certain circumstances or on some but not necessarily all occasions. We have reached such a circumstance now with these offences and we seek to obviate as much as possible the necessity for reliance on civilian witnesses in many cases. Civilian witnesses are becoming more difficult to obtain because of the fear of intimidation in such areas as Limerick and certain areas of this city.

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