Opposition claims gang laws are not working

THE law has been changed at least ten times in the past decade in an effort to tackle gangland crime but the opposition claimed last night that these laws are not working and in most cases have not resulted in conviction.

In the aftermath of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in the summer of 1996, a range of new laws were passed.

A raft of emergency legislation that summer focused on removing the possibility of profiting from such crime through the Criminal Assets Bureau Act, 1996, the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996, the Disclosure of Certain Information for Taxation and Other Purposes Act 1996, and amendments to the Revenue and Social Welfare Acts.