Witness protection key to tackling gun crime

IRELAND’S burgeoning gun culture needs to be combated with a beefed-up witness protection programme, Labour last night insisted.

The party’s senators will try to put the crime-busting initiative on a statutory footing to boost its effectiveness.

The programme has been a key weapon in the war against gang crime for ten years and Senator Dominic Hannigan is bringing forward a bill to formalise it in legislation.