Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

As the Leader is aware, the report of the sub-committee on the Barron report made a clear recommendation that a joint resolution in respect of the findings of the committee would be put to both Houses of the Oireachtas. When is it the Government's intention to put that motion on the Order Paper so the matter can be debated?

In my constituency on Saturday, as Members know, a grandmother was savagely killed in cold blood in her own house. She was another victim of the increasing violence and proliferation of guns in our society. It is clear that gun culture has taken hold and that we have an ongoing problem of violent assault on our streets. What plan of campaign does the Government intend to put in place to counter the threat posed to innocent citizens who stand in the way of these vicious thugs? When Veronica Guerin was savagely murdered some years ago, the Government of the day put in place a plan to bring down the drug gangs and criminals who challenged the State. We now need a plan to deal with the aggressive violence we see on a daily basis.

It has come to our attention that the number of front-line gardaí to counter this threat has gone down in recent years because of the prevalence of specialist units within the Garda Síochána. When does the Government intend to honour the commitment it gave at the last general election to introduce 2,000 additional members to the force? It is also important that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform clarify the comments he made yesterday about a proposal to introduce an amnesty for illegal weapons. We need to consider this proposal seriously and tease out the details because the prevalence of guns in our society is causing havoc and chaos for families throughout the country. The Government needs to respond urgently to this crisis.