Ahern urges 'clampdown' on crime

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern advocated a tough stance on crime in the wake of a series of high-profile incidents over the weekend, including the murder of a 28-year-old mother of two, sexual assault on two young children in Swords, Co Dublin, and an attack on an elderly priest in Co Kerry.

"We have to clamp down very hard wherever we have serious crime," Mr Ahern told the Dáil as Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny claimed that Dublin and other major population centres had become the 21st-century equivalent of "Dodge City".

Mr Kenny said: "You can buy a Glock , a hit, or a life for a few hundred euro and the outcome is absolutely devastating for everybody concerned and for the reputation of the country."

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said Swords had been "traumatised" by recent crimes including a grenade attack outside a house in the town. The four-year-old child who had been sexually assaulted in Swords was having nightmares about the "bad man" and had started to blame herself for what had happened, he said.

The Taoiseach said: "There is only one way I've always believed in - in dealing with crime - and that's the tough end of it. That's detection and that's sentences and that's prison sentences. It seems to be the only thing that people understand."

He added: "We have the laws. We have tough laws. We have more justice bills than any other legislative measures", and resources had been provided for gardaí for specialised units and overtime.

Mr Kenny, who first raised the levels of crime, said: "In 10 years of this Government, Dublin and other cities have become like a 21st-century Dodge City. It has simply gone to the dogs in some places, not just in organised crime but in rape and in murder, in beatings and in stabbings.

"This has become a part of everyday life in city and country," the Fine Gael leader said.

Mr Ahern condemned the murder of Latvian Babia Saulite as "appalling" and said it "requires that we do everything to find the culprits".

The Taoiseach said: "The laws are there and the legislation is there giving the power to deal with these criminals. Special Garda operations and special units are there, but it is very difficult for the gardaí to be at every house and every street corner. They can't do that."

He added: "The laws are there, the will of the gardaí is there, but it is not always easy to just catch the culprits who are perpetrating such ferocious crimes."

Mr Ahern added: "There's too many murders. There's too many guns. I don't know what the price of a hitman is, whether it's huge or small money. But the point is that it is an enormous danger. There are too many hardened criminals at bay. We have stated to the gardaí time and again that we were prepared to put in the resources to special units, to additional gardaí, to overtime for gardaí, to break these gangs."

Mr Sargent said the recent crimes were an additional burden on the gardaí in areas such as Fingal and other commuter-belt areas where there had been a "population explosion without any commensurate growth in facilities. One in 10 houses in the State last year was built in Fingal."

He said Swords had the same population as Waterford but only a fraction of the facilities, including only one Garda station to Waterford's three. He called for a task force to be established on meeting the needs of fast growing commuter-belt towns.