Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would appreciate it if the Acting Chairman indicated to me when the end of my four minutes was approaching.This is a timely debate. I thank our Fianna Fáil colleagues for the motion. Gangland crime is not restricted only to Dublin and areas that are considered to be cities. The nature of the drugs trade in Ireland and elsewhere means that gang crime and all that goes with it has seeped out to my own home town of Drogheda. Drogheda has been beset by a drugs war in the last year, precipitated by a shooting in the town last summer. The Minister knows this. He has visited Drogheda on many occasions. Up to 100 gang-related incidents have been recorded by An Garda Síochana locally in the past year or so. This includes shootings, alleged kidnappings, pipe bomb attacks, and drug debt intimidation. August saw our first fatality. Drug debt intimidation has destroyed the fabric of some of Drogheda's communities. It has created an environment of unprecedented tension, where people are looking over their shoulders and everyone is under suspicion. Local gardaí have done all they can with limited resources. We have to wait, as the Minister knows too well, for a brazen shooting in broad daylight in the Hardmans Gardens area of Drogheda in April for the Commissioner and the Department to commit to deploying badly needed additional Garda resources in the form of 25 additional personnel in the town.

The dogs on the street know who is running these gangs and who is involved, yet it seems that the powers the Oireachtas provides to the system in the context of the Criminal Justice Act 2009 are not being used to properly manage and prosecute individuals who are responsible for directing organised crime. The people of Drogheda demand action. They demand that the people responsible for these concerted actions, and for the organisation and operation of these crime gangs be taken off the streets and brought to justice. This is a failure of the system. I would appreciate if the Minister could elaborate on his views about the Criminal Justice Act's efficacy. He is required under law to present a report to this House. It is in black and white that not a single person has been brought before the Special Criminal Court charged with the crime of directing a criminal gang. I understand that individuals who are involved in organised crime are often convicted of lesser offences and taken off the street and deprived of their liberty. However, the law was introduced in 2009 for good reason. The Minister will be reluctant to comment on an independent agency, which I understand, but there appears to be a reluctance on the part of the Director of Public Prosectuions, DPP, to use the legislation there. That suggests that there is a weakness in the legislation. Because of that reluctance, ordinary people in Drogheda and other communities across the country beset by the effects of organised crime are suffering. That should not be the case, and I hope the Minister agrees. Is it the case that our anti-gang crime legislation needs to be reviewed?