TAOISEACH BERTIE Ahern has told the Dáil that nobody wants the kind of tough laws needed to secure convictions in gangland crime.
Mr Ahern said: "I have been at security briefings where gardaí have outlined who they believe is responsible, but unless we have very draconian laws, which none of us wants, we cannot stop it. That is the reality."
He pointed out that in many cases "court proceedings do not work because nobody will give evidence. That, not the intelligence, is the reason for the lack of convictions." The Taoiseach was responding to Labour leader Eamon Gilmore who said only one in six gun murders in the State resulted in a conviction. He said there had only been 24 convictions for the 150 gun murders in the State since Mr Ahern took office in 1997. He accepted difficulties the Taoiseach mentioned including "people not talking and being afraid to give evidence".
That was why the Labour Party had repeatedly called for its legislation on witness protection and Garda surveillance to be enacted. "These would give gardaí the additional powers of surveillance they need to put criminal gangs away and provide protection for those giving evidence against them," Mr Gilmore said.
"We cannot continue with the situation where murders take place week-in, week-out. There is barely a weekend when one of these gangland, gun-related, drug-related killings does not take place and it cannot continue."
Mr Ahern acknowledged that the number of convictions for gangland crime and drug trafficking was very low. But he said "gardaí say they have strong legislation, dedicated detective units, high levels of resources and considerable overtime and manpower reserves".
He added: "It is not a lack of legislative power, a witness protection programme or resources. In these instances the Garda is obliged as it is at several locations to have 24/7, 365 security to stop some of the groups engaging in violence against each other and by extension, engaging in criminal activities in the community. It is a very costly activity for gardaí but it significantly reduced the number of gangland deaths in 2007."
Witness protection was a difficult issue and he had raised it again with the Garda Commissioner. "Although he is not convinced, he has enhanced the system. The difficulty is that even when badly injured, criminals will not participate in normal surveillance and intelligence gathering."
He pointed out that "as we have seen recently, even seriously-injured individuals who know who tried to kill them will not co-operate". Gardaí had the legal powers but they "can only continue legal surveillance intelligence activity and question people to try to get this information".
