Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the Deputy's last point, An Garda Síochána has shown again and again that it will stand up to the threat from criminal gangs and the Government will certainly support the force in doing that. The €50 million that was allocated two weeks ago to An Garda Síochána is evidence of that support. The threat from criminal gangs is severe. They are engaged in a cycle of revenge and retaliation which has to be interrupted. An Garda Síochána has shown over many years that it is capable of dealing with dissidents and with those who threatened our peace. The Garda was capable of dealing with the threat of violence in Limerick and in other places where 24 out of 25 murders were solved. I have no doubt they will do the same in the current investigations. There are over 20 people before the courts at present in relation to those investigations but An Garda Síochána wants to prevent such occurrences, to investigate them and to prosecute them.

With regard to the comparisons I do not think it is a question of either-or: we need both community policing and we need armed response units and we will have a new armed response unit in Dublin later this year. An investment has been made in that which is important. I believe we need a variety of policing methods in order to deal with modern criminality in all its guises.

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