Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

The increase in gun crime is frightening and alarming, particularly in Dublin and other cities. Thankfully, it is not a major issue in my home city of Cork. Most murders involving guns are gangland-related and they stem from drug wars and the money that can be made from drugs. A number of drug traffickers are very wealthy and ruthless and their ambition is to make more money while protecting their turf. This involves the necessity of killing off opponents in many instances. Some people take the callous view, which I do not support, that if one lives by the sword, one deserves to die by the sword and people who engage in criminal activity, particularly involving drugs, and who are armed and hire professional hitmen to take out their opponents are only killing each other off. I recently read a newspaper report about professional, trained hitmen and mercenaries who are flown in from abroad to take out people before leaving again. That is a frightening prospect for our society to face.

The Minister and other speakers referred to the incident involving Garda Sherlock, which was deplorable. One crime commentator reported that the guys he stopped were on a mission. He was checking out a stolen car but these guys were "focused and psyched up" about what they were doing. They might have been drugged up but they were on a mission and they had no fear about taking out whoever came in their way, whether it was a garda or a civilian. The Government can be condemned about resources and legislation. The previous Minister and his predecessor were sometimes lambasted in the Dáil and in other fora for introducing reams of legislation and there is an abundance of legislation on the Statute Book. One can throw all the resources one wants at crime but more and more people are using drugs in our society. Twenty or 30 years ago, drugs were confined to deprived areas in parts of our cities and they were a scourge on the less well-off in society. The drugs culture is expanding, however, as increasing numbers of middle class people use cocaine and other drugs. As our society generates a greater demand for leisure drugs, more drugs enter the State and drug barons make more money and become more vicious in doing what is necessary to protect their patch. Citizens must face up to this frightening reality. In every area, there are people who know the identity of the drug barons and hit men. Unless this information is conveyed to gardaí, their task is increasingly difficult if not impossible.

In my area of west Cork, a substantial consignment of drugs was intercepted off the coast earlier this year. I made the point many years ago that west Cork is wide open to such activity because we face some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. In many instances, the drugs consignments that arrive on our shores also include shipments of guns. The sophistication of the weaponry being used by criminals on our streets is frightening, including automatic and semi-automatic guns. These are the weapons used by foreign armies. The last Government introduced legislation to impose greater penalties on persons in possession of unlicensed firearms. Significant progress has been achieved by the Garda under Operation Anvil but we must be more vigilant. The Garda must roll out other operations to ensure as many guns as possible are taken out of circulation.

The brazenness of some of these criminals and the lengths to which they will go to safeguard their activities are startling. In Limerick recently, for example, a person was shot within 50 m or 60 m of where two emergency response unit members were on patrol. Through follow-up searches in Limerick, gardaí have discovered that in many instances, these thugs use innocent people to hide guns. Fearful for their lives, ordinary people may agree to conceal weapons in their attics or sheds. The homes of the criminals, meanwhile, are clean.

In the context of the increase in the prevalence of particular crimes, such as homicides using guns, one wonders whether we should categorise the various types of murders. I accept that a murder is a murder, but there is a situation in some areas, especially in Dublin, where criminal gangs, sometimes through the deployment of hit men, take out other criminals in a tit-for-tat territorial turf war. Such murders have become frighteningly prominent in the past five years. On the other hand, we have cases such as that of the unfortunate young woman in south Tipperary who lost her life. This was a homicide that took place in different circumstances and where no guns were involved. It has been described as a frenzied knife attack. We can only hope that her brother, who is fighting for his life in hospital, will survive. In other instances, murders take place in the context of domestic violence.

Close to the quiet town of Dunmanway in my own constituency, a body was found recently in a slurry tank. People I have spoken to in my community in recent days are encouraged and reassured by the information that seven people have been questioned by the Garda in regard to this matter. Going further back, one of the most prominent unsolved crimes is the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in 1996. While canvassing for the local elections in 1999, I encountered people in that locality who promised to vote for me if I could find her murderer. This was a shocking crime — an innocent holidaymaker bashed to death just days before Christmas — and it remains prominent in the minds of people in that community.

In supporting the amendment to this motion, I commend the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, and the Government on the significant progress that has been made in the past ten years in introducing legislation to combat crime. In regard to drugs and gun crime, it seems that in many instances, the Judiciary has ignored the minimum mandatory penalties as laid down by the Oireachtas.