McDowell admits gangland ‘last sting’ claim wrong

AS Justice Minister Michael McDowell admitted a claim he made two years ago that the threat of gangland murders had been snuffed out, new figures reveal prosecutions have been taken in just one-in-six gun murders since the coalition came to power nine years ago.

The figures show that since 1998 — just months after the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrat partners entered Government — out of 113 gun deaths, prosecutions have only been taken in 19 cases.

There have been 20 gun murders so far this year, just one short of a record 21 last year. The figures do not include recent gun deaths, only accounting for attacks up to November 2.

News of the low rate of court proceedings comes as garda detectives investigate two further gun murders this week.

Latvian mother-of-two Baiba Saulite was gunned down in a contract killing on Sunday.

The 28-year-old was smoking a cigarette with friends at the door of her Swords home, while her two sons slept upstairs.

Detectives yesterday in Drogheda were also piecing together clues as to who shot dead suspected drug dealer Paul Reay on Thursday, when he was gunned down outside his home.

Labour senator Joanna Tuffy last night dismissed the Government’s crime-tackling efforts. The party’s Seanad spokeswoman on justice argued: “Despite the lavish promises made by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, we appear to be losing the battle against a new breed of criminals that has emerged, who have easy access to deadly weapons and who are more than prepared to use them.

“We have also seen sinister developments in recent months including death threats to solicitors.”

Other figures show that of the record level of 21 gun murders last year, only four were regarded by detectives as detected, or solved. Court cases have begun in just two of these.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell yesterday admitted that comments made two years ago about a gangland murder being “the last sting of a dying wasp”, were incorrect.

After a briefing with gardaí in Swords, the PD leader said: “I said that a number of years ago and have acknowledged in the meantime that was an over-optimistic estimate and I was wrong about that.”

Fine Gael Justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe called on Mr McDowell to overhaul his crime strategy after admitting he was wrong.