Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for allowing me to raise this issue. Anybody who has not lost a child cannot imagine the grief that Steve and Carmel Collins and their family have gone through following the murder of their son, Roy. To have this grief added to by being forced to leave their city and country because of being afraid to remain is unimaginable. I acknowledge the work done by the Garda on this case over many years and the efforts made to try to avoid this.

The witness protection programme seems to have failed in this instance. While results were achieved, if the family is forced to leave the country is there a danger a signal will go out and other people who would want to co-operate with the Garda will not do so. I acknowledge the Minister's statements on this to date but we need to stand back and look at how we enforce the programme and examine whether further powers are necessary for the Garda to enforce and sustain the programme to ensure nobody else will be afraid of coming forward out of fear of having to leave the country.

The thought the State has paid €50,000 to a member of the McCarthy Dundon gang for a home will horrify many people, particularly in light of the news we received this week about the Collins family having to leave the country. The Limerick regeneration agencies paid this money because of the overall aims of the project. However, given the involvement of the gang in sustained crime throughout Limerick and the mid-west region it is the wrong signal to send out.

In his response, will the Minister confirm the status of the witness protection programme? How many people are involved in it on a macro level? We do not need the details. Will the Minister confirm whether it has been affected by the budget cuts to the Garda this year? What are the specific effects on the day-to-day running of the programme? Is the Minister aware of any other family involved in the programme which is being forced to leave the country on the basis of involvement in the programme?

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I listened with interest to the Deputy's contribution. He obviously substantially misunderstands the concept of a witness protection programme. Witness protection programmes worldwide are devised to facilitate individuals who are at risk from organised crime to start their lives anew, in a different location in the same country or in another country, for their own protection. Witness protection programmes are not simply about providing Garda protection for families or individuals placed at risk in their own communities. It is utterly and completely wrong for the Deputy to suggest in any shape or form that the witness protection programme has failed or that it has in any way been impacted by any cutbacks of any description.

Since my appointment as Minister, I have been determined that the State should do everything it could to assist Mr. Steve Collins and his family. Primarily, Mr. Collins and his family stood by the institutions of this State. They paid a dreadful price for the courage which they showed, courage for which all of us in this House salute them. It is vital that the State is seen to stand by them. However, despite the great progress which the Garda has made in tackling the gangs in Limerick, it remained necessary for Mr. Collins and members of his family to have intensive Garda protection.

For some considerable time, there had been contact with Mr. Collins as to how the State could best assist him and his family. This culminated in Mr. Collins deciding that the best hope for himself and his family to lead a better life is to move abroad. It has never been the practice to comment on who may or may not be in the witness security programme and the House will appreciate that, for security reasons, it would not be appropriate for me to comment in detail on any of the arrangements made for Mr. Collins and his family's move abroad. However, I assure the House that the State has offered, and is providing, every assistance possible in giving effect to that decision. Of course, I regret that Mr. Collins has had to take this decision but I fully understand it and I am sure all right thinking people will wish him and his family well in their move and in their new life.

The Garda is determined to maintain a robust response to criminal gangs. I am determined to do everything I can as Minister to support the Garda in its efforts. We should remember that, week in week out, the Garda successfully brings people involved in gangland activities before the courts and secures convictions, and a substantial number of people are serving prison sentences. Garda detection rates for murder and manslaughter cases are high, with provisional figures indicating a detection rate of more than 80% for murders last year.

The Garda Commissioner has assured me that policing in Limerick and actions to deal with gangland crime will continue to be an absolute priority for the force. I am advised by the Garda Commissioner that more than 20 gang leaders and a total of 106 individuals related to Limerick criminal gangs are in prison at this time. In addition a significant number of gang leaders are awaiting trial at present. Considerable resources will continue to be put into containing and pursuing criminal gangs in Limerick. An additional 105 gardaí have been deployed to Limerick since December 2006, bringing the total strength there to 637 at the end of 2011 - the highest number of gardaí ever deployed in the Limerick division.

The Criminal Assets Bureau is also pursuing the assets of these gangs. The bureau is central to tackling gangland crime and has had considerable success in recovering proceeds of crime. A review of the proceeds of crime legislation underpinning its operation is continuing, with a view to finalising proposals which will give effect to the commitment in the programme for Government to strengthen further the bureau's powers to seize the proceeds of crime.

The Deputy will be aware that the witness security programme is a vital part of the Garda response to tackling gangland crime. He will appreciate, however, that for security reasons it would not be appropriate for me to comment in any detail on its operation or to respond to some of the queries he raised. The House will appreciate that programmes of this nature are operated by many countries which have to confront the realities of organised crime. While I cannot, as I say, go into any detail about its operation, I assure the House that we are determined to do what is necessary to operate an effective security programme. This programme involves not only providing, where required, intensive security to individuals at risk in their communities but also, where necessary, facilitating individuals and their families to relocate to other jurisdictions.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I accept and fully support the programme. However, it is not only me who is expressing concerns about it. I direct the Minister to the remarks of the former Director of Public Prosecutions who said in 2009 it was of limited use in tackling organised crime. Has the Minister reviewed those remarks and has he internally within the Garda Síochána made changes to the programme? The Minister must admit that what happened this week, in terms of the publicity surrounding this family having to leave the country, has been damaging to the programme. There are people who want to get involved in the programme and to support its objectives but who do not wish to leave the country.

In raising this issue, I hoped to hear from the Minister what is in place to repair that damage and if there is anything we can do to make the programme more effective to ensure what happened does not have to happen again. I accept that some people will have to leave the country but the Minister must admit that the circumstances of this particular case, in terms of the bravery of the Collins family having to take the decision to leave this country, is damaging to the programme.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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It is unfortunate that Deputy Calleary should attempt to play crass party-political politics with a serious programme designed to protect individuals in circumstances in which this State and this Government has provided essential assistance to the Collins family to facilitate their relocating abroad.

The Deputy stated that in 2009 the Director of Public Prosecutions described the programme as being of little or limited use.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Limited use.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy might recall that his party was in government in 2009-----

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Yes. We put the gardaí in Limerick.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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-----and that former Minister, Dermot Ahern, not I, was Minister for Justice. If the Deputy had any concerns about he efficacy of the programme he had two years during which time his party was in government to raise them directly with his ministerial colleague. Under this Government, there is an effective programme. The Deputy's comments today are damaging. He might reflect on that. The very essence of witness protection programmes is not only to provide intensive security for families within their locality but to assist those families, who have assisted the State in bringing to justice those engaged in organised crime, who wish to lead their lives free of that intensive security to relocate should they wish to do so.

While the Deputy may not understand that, my predecessor did. The arrangements put in place in regard to the Collins family commenced with discussions in which the former Minister, Dermot Ahern, was engaged. I substantially advanced those discussions and brought arrangements that were taking far too long to fruition and finality, thus facilitating the Collins family in their wish and choice to relocate elsewhere so they can lead a normal life. I wish them well. It is a disgrace that the Deputy should use the successful implementation of the witness protection programme and the bravery of the Collins family in terms of their freely made decision to relocate elsewhere when we would have continued to provide them with extensive security in this State for crass party-political point scoring.