Ahern calls for tough sentencing after ‘horrific’ shooting

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has challenged judges to put an end to soft sentencing for gun killers and drug dealers in the wake of the shooting dead of young mother Donna Cleary.

Both Mr Ahern and Justice Minister Michael McDowell called for tougher jail sentences after declaring the random revenge murder, by three men refused entry to a 40th birthday party, a "new low" in Irish crime.

"I don't think you get much lower than that," said Mr Ahern. "When you see the amount of gun crime, it does make you feel that perhaps we are just too lenient and that people serve too short a sentence."