Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The prevalence and viciousness of gang-related violence in this State is one of the greatest challenges we face as a society. Frankly, not remotely enough is being done to come to terms with it. It has become a living nightmare for the communities that have to live with this. People have become terrorised and they have lost hope that it will come to an end. A climate of fear, violence, intimidation, drug-running and other forms of criminality accompanies such gangsterism. There has been a devastating impact on communities.

There have been six gang-related murders so far this year, with three in one week, and several more have been foiled by the work of gardaí. There were 77 homicides last year. There were 185 arrests made for possession of a firearm in 2018 and 89 people charged with discharging a firearm. Between 2016 and 2017, 22 people died in gang-related killings. The response from Government has been totally inadequate. It is still the case that the majority of Garda stations are either at or below the strength they were at in 2014. Dublin has lost 512 gardaí since 2009. Until recent reactions brought about by serious crime, some of the stations that had experienced reductions in gardaí were Coolock and Drogheda. Since 2011, Coolock station has lost 14 full-time gardaí while the local anti-drugs unit lost 13 of its 32 personnel. This problem has gone on and on and this violence continues to spiral out of control. As it goes on, more people will die, more families will be bereaved, and communities will continue to live in fear.

That is not only my assessment. The Garda representative organisations - the Garda Representative Association, GRA, and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, AGSI - have repeatedly stated that An Garda Síochána is decades behind other police forces in terms of numbers, equipment, training and resources. Privately, GRA members have expressed the view that the Government has been complacent about the increase in gang-related crime. I was astonished recently at the decision not to take on the full complement of Garda recruits this year. If this is repeated next year, I question whether the Minister will reach his target of 15,000 sworn members of An Garda Síochána by 2021. In any event, this is far too modest entirely. We should aim for in excess of 16,000 gardaí.

There was an embargo on overtime for gardaí for the final four months of last year, which placed significant restrictions on the ability of sergeants and superintendents to put in place the kinds of operations they wanted. There has been a 40% reduction in community policing in recent times. Community policing is a key link between communities and gardaí and a means to give gardaí information and intelligence about what is happening in those communities. This State has one of the lowest police-to-population ratios in Europe with 278 gardaí per 100,000 citizens, 40 fewer than the EU average.

I recognise that front-line members of an Garda Síochána are doing all within their power to confront this problem. I note the actions and ongoing successes of the Criminal Assets Bureau in recent days and that countless operations by gardaí have prevented crimes and killings and I pay tribute to them for that. However, the Government is not putting in place the resources they need. According to Seamus Boland of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, it is targeting in the region of 20 groups at any one time. Some of these groups, such as the gangs in Dublin, could have hundreds of people linked to them. That is the scale of the challenge.

Last year, I called for "a comprehensive review of the emergency legislation in advance of its renewal next year", following a similar call the previous year, which would focus on how to modernise the criminal justice system to make it responsive to the needs of Ireland in 2018. That has not happened. Sinn Féin believes new legislation is needed to repeal the outdated emergency Acts currently in place and replace them with strengthened and improved legislation providing for new courts to deal with these particular cases. Gardaí and the courts are facing 21st century challenges with early 20th century legislation. The current, outdated criminal justice system does not act as a deterrent to organised crime; it is, in fact, exploited by organised criminals.

Sinn Féin recognises that there are certain criminal cases which are more difficult to prosecute given the nature of organised crime today. The opportunity for well-organised and well-funded criminal enterprises to influence juries, tamper with evidence or intimidate witnesses is greater than in the vast majority of criminal cases. We should always support, defend and promote the judicial norms of the right to a jury trial and only in special circumstances should we consider deviating from this to protect the judicial process. Hearings at the family court are currently held in camera while the drug treatment court is a specialised court operating within the legal system. Specialisation of courts can make sense. Sinn Féin, therefore, does not oppose special courts and court procedures to deal with the specific circumstances of violent, organised criminal gangs that present serious threats to the security of the State and communities when the ordinary courts are prevented from securing the effective administration of justice. The manner in which we try cases involving serious crime is not adequate and we need to offer greater protections to jurors and witnesses to ensure greater success in putting these criminals away.

The kind of legislative change required has been debated, some of which has been considered by bodies such as the Law Reform Commission, LRC. For example, we believe there is a need to create a specific offence of jury tampering. We also believe there is a need to increase penalties for intimidation of jurors under section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act 1999. There are undoubtedly circumstances where it will be appropriate, necessary and proportionate to provide for anonymisation of juries and witnesses. The Government rightly provided for this recently for witnesses in the Domestic Violence Act 2018. Why has it never considered that for serious and organised crime? It can surely be provided for, and is surely necessary, in those circumstances. This can be done via screens in courtrooms or, in particular circumstances, via remote location of jurors with video link to courtroom.

We should take all steps necessary to ensure the safety of jurors and witnesses, but the Government has not even considered these matters. Such legislation could have an in-built independent reviewer of legislation to ensure its effectiveness and to ensure that it is rights-proofed. The Commission on the Future of Policing has recommended just that.

We also need, outside of the legislative framework, to get more serious about tackling serious and organised crime in this State. I urge the Minister to ensure the full implementation of Garda Inspectorate recommendations on serious crime and the Commission on the Future of Policing proposals on tackling crime. One of those is a recommendation Sinn Féin made last year. We called for an annual national threat assessment because the current approach of reports and threat assessments by the national security committee is ad hocand unstructured.

This could be put on a more secure periodic basis. The commission called for a strategic threat assessment centre and co-ordinator. The detail of this proposal needs to be outlined in greater detail. The Minister and I may differ on that detail, but I am glad that our views were heard by the commission.

We need to speed up the process of civilianisation to free up gardaí from office work and get them onto the street and on patrol. We need proper sentencing guidelines such that people receive sentences fit for their crimes. That is a matter that Sinn Fein has prioritised and on which it has made progress with the Judicial Council Bill 2017. We have made a significant contribution to the area of policing and justice in this term. We need gardaí to be properly in touch with the demands of communities and accountable to them. Public meetings hosted by joint policing committee community forums should influence local policing plans. The Garda should prioritise what the community says works, such as having more gardaí on foot patrol and bicycles and more juvenile liaison officers. We call on the Garda to continue and enhance activities focused on disrupting illegal drug supply chains and eliminating the proceeds of drug-related crimes. We need an aggressive pursuit of major drug traffickers, ensuring that the bigger players are caught, tried and receive appropriate sentences.

The motions relate to the Special Criminal Court and, in particular, the provisions under the 1998 and 2009 Acts relating to same. The court was established under the Offences against the State Act during the Second World War. Its current incarnation dates from 1972. The reality is that the Offences against the State Acts and the Special Criminal Court are ineffective relics of a conflict era, which have failed to deal with the new threats posed by organised crime. It operates under the standard operating procedure of non-jury trials. We should protect the right to a jury trial and implement the protections I outlined to ensure a fair trial and to ensure that the guilty can be convicted. It is not sensible to perpetuate a situation whereby we are relying on an annual renewal of outdated emergency legislation. We are using 20th century tools for what is a very different challenge in the 21st century.

I have addressed the policing and legislative responses to organised crime, but there is also a need for a policy response. The Minister recently appealed to young people to "drop the bling" and, referring to criminal gangs, stated, "They’re all losers". However well meaning, he somewhat missed the point. People are attracted to criminality and gangs, whether serious or petty, because of a lack of alternatives, poverty and a lack of opportunity, not because of bling. That does not deny people's agency or take away their responsibility for their choices, but we need investment in communities. Crime can thrive where the State neglects communities, and it cannot be tackled by policing or legislation alone. We need targeted and substantial investment in community development, education and employment, particularly in areas where organised crime gangs are recruiting members and where their malign influence is having a devastating effect on social cohesion.

I again call for the Minister to take on the job of reviewing the legislation to ensure it is up to date, modern and fit for the challenges we face and to make certain that the response to organised crime is stepped up drastically. We will engage enthusiastically with him and play our role to ensure that organised crime is given no quarter and that we have an effective policing, legislative and policy response to shut down this threat.

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