Labour slams Ahern over tragedy

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern must take personal responsibility for the tragic death of a taxi driver at the hands of so-called joyriders, the Labour Party insisted last night.

Taxi driver Robert McGowan, 30, died following a collision with a stolen car in Summerhill the heartland of Mr Ahern's inner city constituency.

Labour social and community affairs spokesman Tommy Broughan said it was an appalling indictment of the Taoiseach that Mr McGowan died as Mr Ahern's Government had twice voted down a Labour bill to combat joyriding.

The Government must say what steps it intends to take to combat joyriding before more people die, Deputy Broughan said.

"The crime of joyriding has not gone away. It only bursts into the headlines when there is a fatality but every weekend working class communities across Dublin and other cities are terrorised by this urban plague," he said.

The Taoiseach could not respond to Labour's call for him to take personal responsibility for the Dublin taxi driver's death because he was en route to Mexico at the time of going to press.

But the Department of Justice rejected claims that the Government had done nothing to tackle the escalating joyriding crisis since two gardaí were killed in a similar incident last April.

Anyone now convicted of stealing a car can be jailed for 10 years under the Criminal Justice Theft and Fraud Act 2002 whereas the Labour bill proposed a seven-year jail term, a Justice Department spokesman said.

There are now 64 garda programmes nationwide aimed at diverting troubled teenagers away from crime and joyriding, he added.

The Government first voted down Labour's Road Trafficking and Joyriders Bill in 2000 and again rejected it in April 2002 following the deaths of the two gardaí. The bill proposed making joyriding a criminal offence and provided penalties of up to seven years in prison. The joyriding toll continues to grow and the number of places available for young offenders has been reduced with the closure of Shanganagh Castle before Christmas.

Fine Gael justice spokesman John Deasy said "Hundreds of young offenders are flouting the law because they know the judges have no place to send them this crisis must be tackled now."

But a Justice Department spokesman said Shanganagh did not house any joyriders and there are now plenty of spaces in St Patrick's Institution for young offenders over 16.