Opposition attacks Govt over latest Dublin shooting

The Government's record on crime is coming under fire from the opposition today following yesterday morning's drive-by shooting on the M50 motorway in Dublin.

During the incident, a masked gang armed with a sub-machine gun and travelling in a speeding Opel Astra fired more than 20 shots at a Lexus also travelling at high speed along the M50.

The targeted car was carrying two suspected drug-dealers, neither of whom were seriously injured.

Fine Gael TD Jim O'Keefe said today that the shooting highlighted the failure of the Government's policy on crime.

He said the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats had to ensure the Gardai had enough resources to do their job.

"We need more effective deployment of resources, but above all, we must have those resources in place before they can be effectively deployed," he said.

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte, meanwhile, said the Justice Minister needed to adopt special measures to tackle Dublin's drug related gang-crime.

"Those guys don't play by the rules. They are making so much money from the drugs racket that they're prepared to take any risk," he said.

"It's not an easy task for the minister, but the extent and scale of concern in the law-abiding community is such that I think the Government has to be seen to target special measures on these gangsters."