Criminal violence - Empty words mean nothing to gangland

THERE is a strong whiff of knee-jerk political reaction about the Government’s response to the crime crisis gripping the country.

It will require more than ministerial assurances to assuage the fears of citizens increasingly uneasy over the dramatic escalation of gun murders and the low conviction rate, as highlighted by the Irish Examiner.

Our report last week revealed that, between 1998 and 2006, there were 109 gun murders of which 54 were detected and 35 went to court. But only 18 or one-in-six of those ended in convictions, a shockingly low 17% success rate.