Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

It was easy to gain a conviction but not to prove membership, which was a different matter. We can return to that if the Minister wants.

We are scheduling two offences without provision for a jury. The Minister stated there is no crime of membership but has created a crime that is its equivalent. Uncorroborated evidence from a garda that a gang or criminal organisation exists will be, in many cases, based on undisclosed previous convictions. The opinion of the garda will be based on whatever is in the PULSE system but this could not be declared to the court because it would prejudice a jury. A garda giving evidence, or supposed evidence, will state it is his firm belief that Mr. A is a member of a certain criminal organisation but if cross-examined he will not be able to disclose that his evidence is based on previous convictions that might be ten or 20 years old. The gang with which the convictions are associated may no longer exist.

The Minister said that no crime of membership exists. The section before us equates to that because the person could be charged with being involved in an offence of participating in or contributing to certain activities mentioned in section 6 which states, in subsection (4):

In proceedings for an offence under this section it shall not be necessary for the prosecution to prove—

(a) that the criminal organisation concerned or any of its members actually committed, as the case may be—

(i) a serious offence...

It is a huge leap of faith and danger to the system of justice that a garda can associate a person with an organisation, which he or she swears exists, and does not have to prove any crime when the person convicted under that section might be liable to up to 15 years in jail. Many of those whom we would like to see behind bars probably deserve the 15 years but this is not the way forward.

The way forward is to properly resource the Garda Síochána, to use the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Bill and if at the end of that time, two or three years from now, it has been shown that those steps are not working we can move to the provision in section 8, that "the ordinary courts are inadequate to secure the effective administration of justice". The time to declare a national emergency is after we have taken the practical steps that I mentioned the last day we debated this Bill and the Minister accused me of going all over the place. They are simple steps. Everything in this Bill is predicated on the Government's failure to deliver the practical steps first and foremost to remedy problems, such as the Garda stations throughout the country which do not even have Internet access or proper rooms; the lack of proper scanners around the country to scan trucks for weaponry and drugs and the like; the shortage of sniffer dogs; the inadequacy of the forensic laboratory; the under-resourcing of drugs units; the failure to achieve the target for civilianisation, to properly fund the Dial to Stop Drug Dealing service, to protect juries and witnesses or even to introduce legislation which puts them on a standard footing; and the other matters I mentioned such as the bans on overtime, promotions and recruitment and the delay in the TETRA system. There are more. That is what should be done first before we go down the route intended by this Bill. I oppose the Minister's intentions in this section.

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