A permanent special unit to target organised crime, including major drug dealing and gun crime, has been established by the Garda Commissioner.
Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said he had decided to set up the full-time unit after the "significant success" of a temporary unit set up just over two years ago.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy. Photo: Peter Thursfield/The Irish Times
He made the announcement as he attended a Garda graduation ceremony at the Garda College in Templemore.
There are 70 Garda members attached to the organised crime unit set-up in November 2005. Their focus is on "targeted, intelligence-led operations across a range of criminality", the commissioner said.
In 2007 the unit was responsible for up to 130 arrests for crimes which included armed robbery, drug trafficking, aggravated burglary and firearms offences. Some 120 searches were conducted, and the gardaí attached to the unit seized 30 firearms and drugs worth a total of €7 million.
Labour Party justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte welcomed the announcement. "This week's shocking crime figures made plain why the lucrative drugs trade and the crime bosses who are accumulating huge profits from poisoning our young people need to be tackled," he said.
"In the area of serious crime driven by the drugs trade, the gardaí need to be resourced and organised to take on some of the most serious and vicious criminals this country has ever seen and put them behind bars."