Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution to this debate in the House. On Wednesday, 20 January this year, the quiet suburb of Wilton in Cork city, near Cork University Hospital, was rocked by a vicious gangland-style murder. It is widely regarded as the fifth gangland murder in Cork city since 1995, and as we know it is already the fifth in this State in 2010.

It is quite clear that the members of these criminal gangs have no regard for human life or the consequences of their actions on society. They are fearless about being caught and are not afraid of going before any court in this jurisdiction or being convicted. If they are convicted, they have no fear of being in prison.

The statistics point to the root cause of gangland-style murders being the drugs industry. According to the CSO, between 2005 and 2009 there was a 51% increase in recorded drug offences relating to possession of drugs for sale or supply and a 67% increase in recording of possession of drugs for personal use between 2005 and 2009. When the economy boomed, the drugs industry boomed as well, and the level of recorded offences is testament to that.

The people involved in vicious killings and the drugs industry are a threat to our civilised society and must be met head-on. We must work on the long-term solutions of education, tackling social disadvantage and investing in the national drugs strategy. We also need severe short-term solutions that will have an immediate impact. In introducing a range of legislative measures recently, the Minister has taken important steps in that regard. I particularly welcome legislation on surveillance, as it is essential for gardaí to have the power to use whatever technological tool is available in the fight against organised crime.

I welcome the publication of the Bill dealing with forensic evidence and DNA databases. I hold no truck for civil libertarians who believe this is a threat to our civil liberties. My own view is that if a person has nothing to hide, he or she will have nothing to fear. The Bill does not pose a threat to any individual in the State other than those who have just cause to feel threatened.

I also welcome the legislation facilitating the use of the Special Criminal Court to get around the problem of witnesses and jurors being targeted for intimidation. I despair at times of the sentencing policy that I witness in the court system every day and which is reported in the media. The rot sets in with lesser crimes than murder, where people hauled before the courts day in and day out with multiple previous convictions — sometimes as many as 20 or 30 — get off with a suspended sentence. It is very difficult to understand a system which perpetuates that kind of sentencing policy.

It is clear that judges do not like mandatory sentencing and their response to the legislation concerning mandatory sentencing for drug offences is quite clear. If the Legislature gives the Judiciary any wiggle room whatever to opt out of mandatory sentencing, it will avail of it. The question has to be asked that while there is a mandatory life sentence for murder in this country, what does a life sentence mean? Perhaps it is time for a life sentence in Ireland for murder to mean life, with those convicted serving a full life sentence. That would be a strong deterrent and perhaps it is time for us to consider measures as draconian — as some may describe them — as that. There is a real fear among witnesses about testifying in court cases involving gangland crimes, which is understandable.

Another of our starting points must be to resolve issues in our prisons. As I said earlier, these gangsters have no fear whatsoever of prisons and the statistics for last year show over 1,100 drug seizures in the 11 main prisons in Ireland, with 505 in Mountjoy alone. There is much illegal activity in the very institutions set up to deal with such issues. Over 2,100 mobile telephones were seized in the same time, which shows that we should sort out our prisons before we can win the battle on the streets.

I welcome the fact that the Minister has finally received sanction for 170 Garda promotions. Cork, as well as the rest of the country, has been affected by the large number of retirements in the force at a senior level in 2009. At the end of 2009, there were 19 fewer senior gardaí across the three Cork divisions at sergeant level and above. I ask the Minister to address that issue and to ensure that the Garda Síochána has every possible tool to defeat the scourge of drugs on our streets and to win the fight once and for all against these gangsters.

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