Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

First, let me say that my sympathy goes out to Adrian Ronan, his wife, Mary, and to their children for the terrible ordeal they endured yesterday. As well as sympathising with them, I want to praise the courage they showed during the incident.

Tiger kidnappings are a despicable and vicious form of criminal activity which involve targeting working people and their families. Sadly, the Ronan family are just the latest people to have been caught up in them. While yesterday's incident was very traumatic, thankfully, no one was physically injured and no money was handed over to criminals. In other words, the tiger kidnap completely failed in its objective.

Deputies will appreciate that Garda inquiries are still ongoing so it would not be helpful for me to go into the details. However, a major Garda operation was launched to deal with the situation once it arose. An intensive investigation is continuing to bring the perpetrators to justice.

It is a demonstration of the ruthlessness and brutality of the criminals involved that they threaten the families or ordinary working people, even young children. I condemn them utterly and I know that the members of this House are at one in agreeing with me in that regard.

There is an implicit assertion in the Deputy's contribution that simply pouring more resources into this area would be a panacea for all our problems. The fact is that, even in the current extremely difficult financial circumstances, the Government is devoting enormous resources to the fight against crime. I have made it clear that it is an absolute priority in the allocation of resources within my Department. The programme for Government commits us to continuing to maintain policing services at the highest level possible.

The issue here is not primarily one of resources and it is disingenuous for anyone to imply otherwise. The key to curbing this type of incident is to ensure to the greatest extent possible that attempts to extort money in these circumstances are unsuccessful. To do so requires everyone involved to adhere to the protocols which have been drawn up by the Garda and the financial institutions. Deputy Flanagan said he wanted the protocols published. I am not sure that would be the wisest course.

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