Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 577: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the efforts being made to target the suppliers of arms, including heavy-calibre weapons, to criminal gangs; the number of prosecutions arising therefrom; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14430/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

One of the strategic actions to achieve the goals set out in the Garda Commissioner's Policy Plan for 2008 is the continuation and intensification of intelligence-led operations against groups and individuals engaged in the supply of arms (including heavy calibre weapons) to criminal gangs.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that all available intelligence is fully analysed and used in the strategic deployment of both local and specialised operational Garda units in targeting the procurement of weaponry by and for criminal gangs. Organised criminal gangs operating in this jurisdiction are targeted on an ongoing basis and profiles regarding the personnel of such groups are continually updated. Their members, operating methods, criminal interests and financial assets are likewise proactively targeted and intelligence-led operations, primarily undertaken by specialist units of An Garda Síochána, including the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Garda National Drugs Unit, the Organised Crime Unit and the Criminal Assets Bureau, are regularly undertaken.

Measures to deal with serious crime include Operation Anvil. As part of this operation, intelligence-led operations have been used to target specific individuals. Operation Anvil commenced in May 2005 in the Dublin Metropolitan Region and was extended countrywide in 2006. The primary focus of Operation Anvil is the disruption of serious and organised criminal activity. In this regard Operation Anvil consists not only of intelligence-led targeted operations but also an increased overt and visible Garda presence. The most recent figures available to me, up to 2 March, 2008, show the significant impact which Operation Anvil has been having since its inception. In the Dublin Metropolitan Region there have been 857 firearms seized, and a further 634 firearms have been seized outside the Dublin Metropolitan Region.

A wide range of provisions to combat gun crime were introduced in the Criminal Justice Act, 2006. With effect from 1 November 2006 mandatory minimum sentences of between five and ten years came into effect for certain firearms offences, including possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances, possession of a firearm with criminal intent, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, possession of a firearm while hijacking a vehicle and use or production of a firearm to resist arrest.