New Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said yesterday the force would not be intimidated by armed gangs, but gardaí needed the public to supply them with information if serious criminals were to be brought to justice.
In his first public comments since taking up his new post on Wednesday, Mr Murphy said he was committed to maintaining the Garda as an unarmed force despite increased gun crime.
"The Garda Síochána has never backed off on these situations and we are not going to back off now," he said.
He was referring to the shooting in September of Garda Paul Sherlock during a robbery off Dublin's North Strand, and the shooting of Sgt Mark Clark in Crumlin in September 2006; both survived. Mr Murphy said he had 3,000 men and women who were trained and authorised to use firearms. These could be called upon "when the need arises from time to time".
He said gardaí knew the identities of those engaging in gun crime and importing and selling illegal drugs. However, getting information about criminals was needed in order to secure convictions. Members of the public had responsibilities in that regard.
"Give us the information and we will act on it, we will investigate these matters meticulously."
The killing of 19-year-old Jeffrey Hannan on Thursday morning in Limerick was one example of a case that could be solved with the co-operation of members of the dead man's local community.
Under his term as Garda Commissioner, the force would continue to target gangland crime. The arrest of a man in Dublin city centre on Thursday night with an AK47 was the type of intelligence-led investigation he wanted to see more of.
"It gives me great pleasure to say we've taken an AK47 and ammunition off the streets of our country," he said.
Mr Murphy added that while solving gangland murders remained a difficult issue for gardaí, he expected charges would be made against a number of people relating to some recent gangland killings.
However, he said while gangland crime was a priority, it was one of many categories that gardaí were dealing with on a daily basis.
Mr Murphy was speaking at a joint press conference with Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan at the launch of a new fingerprints recording and storage system.
Mr Lenihan said the new system was more advanced than the electronic prints database used by the Garda over the past 10 years, and would allow for even partial prints to be identified. He said the system would be fully integrated with the Garda's Pulse intelligence database and with the Garda National Immigration Bureau's database of prints from foreign nationals.
The new database meant An Garda Síochána was among the best-equipped police forces in the world. The system also helped Ireland meet its responsibilities in the context of security across the EU around crime and immigration.
Linked to an EU-wide prints database, the system will allow for the matching of crime-scene prints with any person whose prints are recorded on any official system across Europe.
It will also allow gardaí determine immediately if a person claiming asylum has made similar claims in other countries under different names.