Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I will do so. For example, Deputy Rabbitte stated that "The public mood is to assent to measures in the present crisis that people would not otherwise tolerate". He also stated that "the first test of any Government is the protection of its citizens". He further stated:

This cannot go on, Minister. There must be some tipping point where the State asserts its democratic mandate and asserts decent values ... people are saying that enough is enough, and that it is the Government's duty to put gangs out of business.

In respect of the publication of this Bill, the Deputy stated:

I acknowledge that these are exceptional powers that the Dáil has now been asked to provide to the gardaí, but, subject to proper oversight, they are necessary to deal with the exceptional threat being posed by armed criminal gangs, which have claimed 11 victims so far this year.

Following the awful murder of Shane Geoghegan, the leader of the Labour Party said:

The public wants to get a sense that these people will be smashed... We do not want to hear the reasons certain things cannot be done. We need to see, led by Government, which my party will support in this, definitive measures taken that will solve and address this problem.

The Labour Party called for action in November 2008 in the aftermath of Shane Geoghegan's murder. I resisted its promptings and stated that the existing legislation was adequate and that the Garda had at its disposal all the resources it required. I also indicated that if the force needed further resources, these would be provided. I was genuine in the comments I made at that stage. When Roy Collins was murdered, however, I spent the Easter bank holiday weekend thinking long and hard about the matter. I was due to be abroad at the time but I was obliged to remain in Ireland to attend the funeral of a garda who was killed when knocked down by a getaway car in Donegal. I attended the garda's funeral in Mayo and asked to meet the Garda Commissioner afterwards. Our meeting lasted approximately 90 minutes and we agreed during the course of it that we would meet the Attorney General and the Secretary General of my Department the following week to discuss how we might do more.

As stated previously, I do not wish to create a hierarchy in respect of the people who have been murdered in this country. Every murder is disgraceful and I send my sympathy to all of the families that have been affected by this crime. However, the killing of Roy Collins was clearly a message to society that there are those who are determined to take out anyone who co-operates with the State or its criminal justice system in respect of the conducting of normal trials. I am of the view that we were obliged to make a decision to fight that.

As stated previously, I resisted promptings from people on all sides of the Houses to introduce opinion evidence. I did so because of advice received from the Attorney General that it clearly was extremely difficult to prove in respect of criminal gangs that opinion evidence is sustainable, even with corroborative evidence. It is not as difficult in respect of paramilitary organisations. That is the reason I took this action and I greatly resent the Senator's implication. However, I do not wish to labour this point. Senator Regan put it well by stating that acceptance of Senator Alex White's amendment would dilute what this legislation proposes to do.