The Government is to propose new legislation to tackle gun crime in the wake of the Donna Cleary murder, Tánaiste Mary Harney has said.
Ms Harney today told the Dáil that Minister for Justice Michael McDowell will bring forward amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill on firearms and a gun amnesty within two weeks.
Gardai are still questioning two men in relation to the fatal shooting of Ms Cleary last weekend at a house party in north Dublin.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny claimed that Dwayne Foster, the chief suspect who died in garda custody from natural causes, had a bench warrant issued for his arrest and should not have been free.
But Ms Harney defended the gardaí and said that "an evil and dangerous man" was responsible for Ms Cleary's murder.
"There was a bench warrant but there was no committal warrant," she said. "There is a major difference between a bench warrant to arrest somebody and a committal warrant to have somebody in jail."
The Tánaiste added that no government had brought in more legislation in the criminal justice area than the current one.
Mr Kenny said that the Opposition would support the Government if it brought forward the emergency legislation, but criticised Minister for Justice Michael McDowell's record on gun crime thus far.
The Opposition leader claimed that the number of headline crimes will reach 500,000 during 2007 and added that only 12 out of 75 murders involving guns were solved between 1998 and 2004.