Ahern warns of tough action on criminal gangs

The Government will consider the possibility of "draconian measures" including the use of the Special Criminal Court, if criminal gangs continue to break the law, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has told the Dáil.

Mr Ahern said, in the wake of the murder of John Daly, these "very tough ways" were "not entirely the kind of things we like to operate. But if gangs continue to try to do what they do, then I think we as legislators will be forced to look at some of these issues".

The Taoiseach also told the Dáil, following the murder of Paul Quinn in Co Monaghan, that the Garda Commissioner had advised the Minister for Justice that there was "no information available which suggests this attack was carried out or sanctioned by paramilitary interests".

Expressing his sympathies to Mr Quinn's family for his "horrendous murder", the Taoiseach said that "we all hope those involved in this vicious killing, whatever their backgrounds, will be brought to justice".

During leaders' questions Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said that in the latest murders, one man "was beaten to death with iron bars and the other was gunned down in cold blood. Everybody in the country recognises that Ireland has become a far less civilised place in which to live in the past 10 years."

He said the Taoiseach failed "to appreciate that people look on you as the boss, the political boss of the country. You have been Taoiseach for the past 10 years and are presiding over this situation." In many communities people feared giving information to the Garda, he said.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said: "I do not blame the Government every time there is a murder or a shooting, but I blame it for the failure to have the criminal apprehended and put away and to break the cycle of crime."

Mr Gilmore said that in the past decade there had been 141 gun murders but only a one-in-seven conviction rate. The Labour leader also suggested that gardaí might get more information about crimes if there were more community gardaí.

"We do not have a community policing system that people can be in touch with," he said.

The Labour leader repeated his call that membership of an organised crime gang should be made a criminal offence and called for a statutory witness protection programme, as well as reform of the court system to have organised gang crime cases heard more quickly.

Mr Ahern said the number of gun murders this year, at 17, was the same as last year. He said: "We have tough criminal justice legislation, but people have the right to silence, and will sometimes not co-operate even when it is in their own interest to save their life."

He added: "I don't think it will be quicker courts. It's how the courts operate and it's the kind of courts. We've had experience before of how we can operate that kind of court in this country. It's not just based on witnesses coming in. We've seen how the Special Criminal Court operated in the past on the word of a member of the gardaí who had the information."