Extra garda funds 'not enough'

Proposed extra funding for garda operations will not be enough to tackle the gangland killings plaguing Ireland’s streets, it was claimed today.

Justice minister Michael McDowell pledged an extra €2m – as well as a series of new laws – to crack down on the problem.

But Pat Flynn, general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, said the money was not enough.

He said: “We welcome the extra money but what we would say is that two million won’t address the long-term problems there.”

He said there had been major cuts in Garda spending over the last 12 months and that officers were feeling it on the ground.

“Two million in the context of the problem that is ongoing in this country, particularly in Limerick and particularly the likes of Dublin and Finglas, is not sufficient,” he said.

“What we have seen up to now has been funding for short-term strategies.

“What’s required here over the next period of time is a long-term strategy to take on these organised criminals and to bring them to task.”

Minister McDowell vowed last night to crack down on the criminals responsible for gangland murders.

He pledged an extra €2m to target garda operations against organised crime over the next two months.

He said anybody convicted of murder would serve 12 years rather than being let out after seven, and that gangland killings would result in sentences of 15 to 20 years.

He also said jurors must be given much better security and said he was examining ways of giving them a better sense of protection.

The proposals came after the dramatic collapse of a Limerick murder trial.

A suspect walked free after a string of witnesses denied making statements identifying him as the killer.

Liam Keane, 19, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Eric Leamy in Limerick in 2001.