Brown's line on crime praised by Archbishop

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has praised the British prime minister Gordon Brown's approach to crime and criticised the Government's response here as being "weak".

Dr Martin said only the involvement of whole communities in policing can really tackle crime. He described the shooting of unarmed Garda Paul Sherlock as evidence of a "new brutality" in crime in Ireland.

In his first party conference speech as prime minister, Gordon Brown said preventing crime was not just about strengthening the police or laws, but about a "community setting boundaries between what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour".

He said that every community in Britain would have its own neighbourhood policing team, confiscated drugs money would be returned to communities and the equivalent of more than €1 billion lying in dormant accounts would be provided for youth facilities in poorer communities.

Dr Martin said that he believed Gordon Brown's response was right and that the "fight against weapons and knives in our society will only be overcome when we arrive at mobilising the communities in which we live. I still believe there is much to do on this front", he said.

In July Dr Martin described the crime situation as "close to a national emergency" following the shooting dead of three men in separate incidents.

He said then it was not enough that law enforcement agencies should be involved in the fight against crime, but individual communities should come together to forge a new consensus.

However, his proposal for a national summit on crime prevention was turned down by both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan.

Dr Martin said yesterday: "I had spoken a few months ago after a spate of killings in Dublin about involving communities more in the fight against violence. The Government's reaction is that it's been done here. That reaction was rather weak."

Archbishop Martin was speaking at the launch of a lay person's guide to the teachings of the church on social issues.