THE Minister of State, Ms Joan Burton, described the record of Fianna Fail and the PDs on drugs and crime as "dismal", saying that they passed no new laws to tackle organised crime when in government.
The Fianna Fail/PD period in Government from 1989 to 1992 "could be described as the incubation period of the now notorious criminal bosses", she said. "Their 40 months in office was when criminal gangs as we now know them took root. It was then that the concept of criminal impunity grew and developed.
"For all the rhetoric of Fianna Fail and the PDs on what they will do, their actual record is no less dismal than on economic affairs," she maintained.
She gave Labour credit for the Criminal Justice Act introduced when it was in government with Fianna Fail. Passed in 1994, the Act contained specific measures to deal with more laundering, she said. "It was a Labour Finance Minister who finally got hose measures fully into operation and set up the detailed co operation between gardai and the Revenue Commissioners that is now evident in the work of the Criminal Assets Bureau.
"Comparing the records of parties in power as distinct from their rhetoric can only lead to a simple conclusion," she went on. "On crime Fianna Fail and the PDs talk, Labour and its partners act."
Ms Roisin Shortall TD (Dublin North West) said that some would have us believe that crime had sprung up overnight or in the past two years. However, the reality was different. The causes of crime were complex "and therefore the solutions must be equally complex. There are no quick fix solutions to Mr Sean Kenny TD (Dublin North East) said the rise of self appointed vigilante groups was an unwelcome aspect of the drugs crisis. These groups "are using the fear and concern generated by drug dealing to gain control over disadvantaged communities by enforcing terror, beatings and worse." He said there were two sets of victims in the drugs crisis: the addicts themselves and those they rob.
The Minister of State, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald, said the report of the Task Force on Violence Against Women, which she chaired, would be with the Government in two weeks' time. The report's recommendations "are designed to ensure that women experiencing violence must have real options, when they disclose what is happening they must be listened to and believed and public bodies and authorities must be able to offer practical help and an assurance of safety." She said violence against women flourished in a society that espoused macho values.
The key elements of the strategy to tackle violence against women included ensuring more effective responses from the criminal justice system, the provision of accurate advice and information, quality services for victims, treatment programmes for men which confront violent behaviour and preventive and public education programmes to challenge the root causes.