Eoghan Harris (Independent)

When one examines the record of public embezzlement in this country one sees that this is not the case. Most working class people are law-abiding, as are most travellers. The fact is criminals choose their line of business. Any person carrying weapons should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Along with Senator Walsh, though he did not mention this specifically, I deplore the intervention of the Garda Ombudsman Commission in the Lusk inquiry. This is all part of an effort to send out signals that criminals are somehow victims of society. They are not, they are aggressors against society and society should be able to deal with them consequentially. Accordingly, apart from supporting the sympathy of this House for Garda Sherlock, I believe it is time to protect unarmed members of the Garda Síochána against people who long ago decided to use lethal force if confronted by a garda. We are burying our heads in the sand if we believe that the old rule of law and old responses of old society will be adequate in such circumstances. We can delay change all we like but, sooner or later, armed policemen will be required to confront armed gangs in the major cities of this country.