Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I revert to matters which were debated in the past couple of days under the Fine Gael Private Members' motion. A number of questions were put to the Minister in the course of that debate which remain unanswered. How many defendants have appeared in the Special Criminal Court since he rushed through the important legislation to which he refers? I ask that question against the background of there being 32 murders, 114 threats of murder, 65 kidnappings, some of them vicious, 470 robberies of institutions and 1,986 instances or crimes involving the possession of drugs for sale or supply in this State since the enactment of the legislation. Having regard to those thousands of crimes committed since last July, will the Minister say how many people appeared before the Special Criminal Court and how many were successfully convicted by that court?

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