Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I thank and pay tribute to all those from all sides of the House who made a contribution to this important debate on gangland crime. Last evening, I highlighted a vast range of problems that I believe are nourishing and fuelling gangland criminality in this jurisdiction. The Minister, in his speech, accused me of being selective and then proceeded to give what I can only describe as a highly selective list of what he believes are his successes or achievements. For example, he patted himself on the back for not cutting the budget of the Criminal Assets Bureau, despite an economic downturn and then went on to note that the CAB recovered almost €7.5 million of proceeds of crime in 2008 and collected more than €6 million in taxes in the same period. The Criminal Assets Bureau is more than paying its way so deciding not to cut its budget is common sense and the very least that we might expect from the Government.

Whenever the Opposition raises the spectre of issues such as gangland crime in the House, the Minister's automatic response is to complain that the Opposition is attacking the Garda. In the world of the Minister he is the noble defender of the Garda while those in the Opposition are mean-minded critics. This is typical Fianna Fáil spin doctoring. The facts speak for themselves when it comes to the Minister's support for the Garda Síochána. He has styled himself as having done his bit when it comes to gangland by bringing in tough new laws, suggesting that the Garda has new laws at its disposal and that it is now up to it to sort out the problem. He raised expectations to huge effect in the aftermath and during the course of the earth-shattering — as he described it himself — package of legislation last year. However, he has remained silent on the gaping hole in the upper echelons of the Garda Síochána and on the Victorian resources that it has at its disposal.

It is not an invention of the Opposition that there are more 700 vacancies in the Garda force, a significant number of them at senior level, which I listed last night. Nor is it the fault of the Opposition or my fabrication that the Minister is moving at a snail's pace to address the matter and, even at that, he is talking about filling 170 vacancies. What about the other 538?

It would be hard to find a more fair-minded and impartial commentator on the Garda Síochána than Kathleen O'Toole, chief inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate. Her most recent report makes clear that gardaí operate at a significant disadvantage with severely outmoded resourcing issues. That is a fact and not an invention of the Opposition.

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