Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise the horrific murder of James Purdue, aged 22, at Grattan Wood, Donaghmede, last Sunday night. This brutal assassination was the sixth horrific murder in the Dublin North-East area in the past five months. On 2 June, Keith Fitzsimons, aged 23, was savagely murdered in a garden at Millbrook Road. On 29 May, Patrick Harte was shot dead in Edenmore Avenue, Raheny. On 24 April, Gerard Goulding from central Dublin was callously murdered at St. Donagh's Road and on 5 March public opinion was rightly outraged when a young innocent mother, Ms Donna Cleary, aged 22, was a tragic victim of an appalling gun attack on a home in Coolock. Prior to her murder, a young Latvian man was stabbed to death in Artane.

The people of Dublin North-East whom I represent are outraged and deeply upset by this appalling catalogue of murders. My constituents are shocked that such horrors could be perpetrated on peaceful residential streets. They are rightly angry that children and ordinary householders have had to witness murder crime scenes and the spectacle of killers operating with apparent impunity in quiet residential streets. They are also rightly fearful that another such atrocity could be perpetrated at any time.

As I informed the Taoiseach yesterday, the chief superintendent for the Dublin north metropolitan region, Peter Maguire, has called for political leadership in response to these appalling gun crimes and the vicious, drug-fuelled gang criminality which produced them. I call on the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to give such leadership. The Minister indicated yesterday that he had reported to the Cabinet that dealing with the murderous gangs who perpetrate gun homicides is not a question of resources. If this is the case, why are vulnerable communities not saturated with gardaí and specialist surveillance teams and why is blatant and regular drug dealing not stamped out and the criminals arrested and charged? The Taoiseach and the Minister never gave the Garda authorities sufficient resources to tackle this scourge. In my Garda district, for example, only 200 gardaí struggle to meet the needs of almost 100,000 people, a larger population than that of Dublin city.

Our 25 year campaign for a new Garda station in Donaghmede has gone unheeded and unanswered. Even Operation Anvil, as the Acting Chairman, Deputy Costello, has noted many times in the House, was only an ad hoc response to terrible crimes and the Garda authorities were not given sufficient resources to extend the operation to the whole north and west sides of Dublin. Responses in areas such as CCTV have been feeble, disorganised and poorly resourced.

In a thoughtful article in yesterday's edition of The Irish Times, criminologist Dr. Ian O'Donnell noted that high detection rates and a high probability of arrest are the best deterrents to the types of appalling crimes we have sadly witnessed in my constituency in recent months. It is time for the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to introduce new policies to remove evil gunmen from our streets once and for all and create a society in which casual and nihilistic violence will not be permitted and will not arise.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this important debate on recent violent deaths and crime on the north side of Dublin. I offer my deepest sympathy to the families of the victims. The vast majority of northside residents are disgusted by the recent horrific increase in violent crime and demand action from the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and senior gardaí. One death is too many and it is only by the grace of God that many other innocent people have not been killed in crossfire. The Minister must wake up to this major problem.

People in Coolock and Clontarf are fed up with their areas being tarnished by negative images and publicity. Tonight I stand up for Coolock, Clontarf and all the northside. Drugs barons must get out of our communities, get off our streets and leave our young people alone. Our young people must ignore these violent criminals who bring death and destruction to our areas. They are not their friends or pals but peddlers of death on the streets of the northside.

I demand action from the Minister and make three sensible proposals to deal with the current crisis. The Government must develop Operation Anvil and target violent drug gangs, ensure more community gardaí are deployed on the streets to work with people on the ground in communities and invest as a priority in the most disadvantaged areas, particularly in pre-school and primary education, housing and drug treatment schemes.

Six people have been murdered in the area since February, five of them by firearms. Recently, I met the father of Donna Cleary, a 22 year old mother of a three year old boy who was shot dead at a party. Her family is devastated by the loss of their young daughter and have pleaded for the removal of guns from the city's northside. Let us do this in the coming months.

We must also support the many residents of the northside who are being bullied and intimidated by gangs every night. Many serious incidents are not reported and the silence further allows the problem to spiral out of control. I urge action and demand the deployment of more gardaí on the streets to tackle violent gangs. Above all, I demand leadership and more support for the decent people of the north side of Dublin.

Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputies Finian McGrath and Broughan for raising these matters on the Adjournment. I speak on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform who is unable to be present. As we speak, the Minister is attending a conference at Santry Garda station with the Garda Commissioner and other senior officers to discuss the recent murders and related policing and security issues.

I assure the Deputies that the Minister and I consider the recent murders in the area concerned to be of the utmost gravity and the significant resources available to the Garda authorities will be brought to bear in a focused and methodical way to bring to account the persons involved in the crimes to which they referred. Sadly, the recent fatal shootings make it all too clear that a small number of criminals are prepared to take whatever action they deem necessary to protect what they regard as their interests, including resorting to extreme violence and murder. I, too, express my sympathy to the families of the victims of recent terrible murders.

Killings within the criminal fraternity are usually well planned and often, due to their nature, more difficult to resolve. Fewer evidential links may be available to aid Garda investigations and witnesses are often unwilling to co-operate with the Garda. On Monday, the Minister had a meeting with the Garda Commissioner and senior management. The Commissioner set out how he is deploying the significant resources available to him this year to tackle serious crime, including gun crime. He informed the Minister that the Garda Síochána did not fall under any resource constraint in deploying gardaí and equipment to address the challenges arising in the areas of crime and the maintenance of public order. Nevertheless, the Minister reiterated to the Commissioner that any resources required by him would be provided. In the meantime a further conference was arranged to discuss the local aspects of these issues. This conference is in train this evening.

The Commissioner informed the Minister that of the 29 murders that have taken place this year, 13 of which involved the use of a firearm, 20 have already been solved and files have either been sent to the DPP or are being prepared for submission to the DPP. Regarding the other nine murders, investigations are ongoing and steady progress is being made in these investigations.

Since June 1997, it has been a priority of the Government to tackle crime in all its manifestations. Never before in the history of the State has our criminal justice system been better resourced in terms of manpower and funding. The Government has legislated wisely and extensively and will continue to do so. We have undertaken an ambitious reform of the institutions that make up our criminal justice system, including the Garda Síochána and the court and prison systems.

Despite the understandable concern which follows serious incidents such as those mentioned, the headline crime rate has decreased from 29 crimes per 1,000 in 1995 to 24.5 crimes per 1,000 in 2006. Serious crime in the Dublin north division has declined by 7% on the same period last year. These figures notwithstanding, the fight against crime is a never-ending battle. Deputies will be aware that Ireland has a low headline crime rate, including the rate for murder, compared with other western societies and, for this, we owe a debt of gratitude to the Garda Síochána.

The Government's top policing priority for 2006 is to continue to target organised crime, including drug trafficking and the gun culture associated with it. This is being implemented through the deployment of specialist units by the Garda authorities and the use of targeted intelligence led operations to tackle specific criminal activities. Contrary to the comments made by the Deputies, Operation Anvil has proven to be very successful in disrupting the criminal activities of a number of key criminal gangs. It has resulted in a number of high profile arrests and the acquisition of intelligence on the movements of criminals. This year, it has been extended nationwide from the Dublin metropolitan region. A budget of approximately €11 million has been allocated for Operation Anvil during 2006 and the Garda Commissioner was recently advised that an additional €10 million has been made available for further operations to tackle gang related crime.

The most recent figures available to me show that since the introduction of Operation Anvil in May 2005, 527 firearms have been seized. It has also resulted in more than 2,830 arrests for serious crimes, including 43 in respect of murders, and a total of 1,298 individuals have been charged.

With the attestation on 8 June of 273 new members, the personnel strength, all ranks, of the Garda Síochána increased to a record 12,641. This compares with a total strength of 10,702 on 30 June 1997 and represents an increase of 1,939, or 18.1%, in the personnel strength of the force since then. Every three months, 275 newly attested gardaí come on stream and the strength of the force will be 14,000, including attested officers and those in training, by the end of this year. The Garda budget is at a record high of €1.3 billion, an increase of 117% on the 1997 provision of €600 million.

I assure the House that the Government will continue to prioritise the fight against criminals and that the fight will be won.