Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

As I stated originally, even the victims of these types of crime, particularly those emanating from gangland crime, are sometimes unprepared to co-operate. This makes the conviction of those involved in crime more difficult and is one of the reasons the Government acted swiftly. It became clear to us after a number of serious events that removing the possibility and, as we were aware, the fact of witness and juror intimidation was necessary. Deputy Rabbitte's party vehemently objected to this proposal. I disagreed with the Labour Party, which was entitled to object, but the provision was necessary.

As to the issue of people running around various estates, I was accused of introducing a rough gun regime. At no stage did I claim I was doing so to tackle gangland crime, although it was suggested that the legislation was a response to gangland crime. I introduced that regime on the basis of my firm belief that people did not desire widespread gun ownership, particularly hand gun ownership.

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