Gangland arrests increase by 50% in crackdown on organised crime
The latest figures from Operation Anvil show 224 people are arrested each week in connection with gangland feuds and organised crime compared with 157 per week last year.
About 1,000 guns have been seized from gangs in the past two years.
Justice Minister Dermot Ahern announced he will discuss new measures to tackle gangland crime to cabinet next week.
He was speaking as TDs from all parties conveyed their sympathies to the family and friends of Shane Geoghegan during a special debate on his killing in Limerick last weekend. Mr Ahern said he is reviewing the policing priorities of the gardaí and will present his new plans to his Government colleagues on Tuesday.
Following discussions with the Garda commissioner, Fachtna Murphy, Mr Ahern said the plans for Garda prioritisation will focus on “targeting serious crime, in particular organised, gun and drug-related crime”.
The cabinet will also approve on Tuesday the Covert Surveillance Bill, which is expected to be passed into law in the middle of next year.
Laws for storing DNA details of people once they are arrested are also being fast-tracked. Once these laws have been passed, DNA samples will be taken from all those currently in Irish prisons. Speaking during yesterday’s debate, Mr Ahern said it would be unconstitutional to use Garda evidence in court that a person is a member of a crime gang as the sole reason to jail them.
Fine Gael TD for Limerick East Michael Noonan proposed this measure: “When members of the IRA refused to recognise the courts, a sworn testimony of a chief superintendent claiming that a person was a members of the IRA was very effective in putting their members in jail,” he said.
The latest figures from the Garda commissioner show that 23,346 people have been arrested in connection with organised crime since Operation Anvil was extended around the country in 2006. Mr Ahern said the figures were a “good indication of the relentless and comprehensive nature of activities being undertaken by the gardaí”.
Fine Gael’s justice spokesman, Charles Flanagan, said the justice system was “severely dysfunctional” and Mr Geoghegan’s death should be the catalyst to bring about change.
“The bottom line is that there is something rotten in our criminal justice system and this rot needs to be stopped before more innocent people are murdered. Shane Geoghegan’s murder was an abomination,” said Mr Flanagan.
Labour party justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte said the Government is failing in the tasks of getting gangs off the streets and preventing younger generation from being “manipulated into criminality”.
He said: “We have seen murder levels not experienced since the Civil War. There have been 161 gun murders in the past decade and only 22 convictions.”
Defence Minister and Limerick East TD, Willie O’Dea, said he was “absolutely determined” that those responsible for Mr Geoghegan’s death would be put behind bars.
“This murder will be met with the full force of the law,” he said.
