Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I condemn the savage death of Alan Cunniffe and the young man in Finglas. The instinct in all of us is the sense of the volunteer, to chase somebody who is robbing a post office or a bank. I was in that situation more than ten years ago when a bank was raided beside me and I ran after the armed raiders. When I think now of what could have happened my blood runs cold. I would like it to go out from this House that we have professional men and women, very brave people, in the Garda Síochána, and we should contact them because we are dealing with savage, violent criminals, rather than take our lives in our hands. That is not to take from the bravery of the young man. I ask that the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform come into the House for a debate on crime and to outline what he intends to do. Clearly we have lost the battle in the fight against organised crime. We do not want to go through another Christmas with a repeat of what has happened during the past few years.