The Government is considering covert surveillance of those suspected of being involved in gangland crime.
The possibility of bugging cars, homes and places where suspects meet is being looked at, Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan confirmed today at the Garda graduation ceremony in Templemore today.
Charlie Flanagan, Fine Gael
"It is a big change in practice for us to do that," Mr Lenihan said. "You have to weigh up the extent to which the criminal is then alerted to your investigative technique. That's the one difficulty with that.
"But obviously it is something that has to be examined and looked at and is being looked at in my department."
Labour's spokesman on justice Pat Rabbitte said it would come as a shock to most people that the Grada currently has no legal powers to undertake electronic surveillance of criminal suspects.
"They cannot, according to Justice Minister Brian Lenihan, bug a building or any other place in which crime suspects might meet, because they do not have the legal powers to do so," Mr Rabbitte said.
"The attempt at a blasé and comforting reassurance from the Minister that this is an issue his Department will look into cannot be taken seriously when you bear in mind that this is a question on which the Law Reform Commission published a consultation paper in 1996 and made its definitive and specific recommendations - and published the Heads of a Bill - back in 1998."
Fine Gael's justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said Mr Lenihan's "wait-and-see" attitude on bugging would not scare criminals
"I welcome Brian Lenihan's consideration of proposals to bug criminals, but his plans are unclear," Mr Flanagan said.
"This is the Minister's first major policy announcement since taking over the job six months ago, but it is aspirational and short on detail.
"When questioned about the proposals on radio he would only say 'it's clearly something that cannot be ruled out for the future'. This will be of no help to Gardaí in breaking up these mafia-style gangs in the meantime.
"This is a far cry from the radical and urgent action required to face down the threat from gangland, which must include a multi-focused approach and a comprehensive package of measures."
Earlier, Mr Lenihan set out the priorities for the Garda in 2008 in which he said gun crime, organised crime and the battle against drugs would be targeted.
He said gardaí had "significant successes" against criminals involved in gun crime and that recently introduced legislation, which extended periods of detention and laid out new offences in relation to organised crime, had been introduced onto the statute books.
The Minister also said that the fight against terrorism, at home and abroad, would be tackled by the Garda, with a particular focus on dissident paramilitary groups and those who would use Ireland as a base for international terrorism.
Joint Policing Committees will be set up in all local authority areas in order to make gardaí "more responsive to local policing needs, while at the same time forging local partnerships in addressing issues," he said.
The Minister also said that a Garda recruitment campaign in August included a number of Chinese, Romanian and Dutch trainees.
He said further applications from non-Irish nationals are being processed and added that a further number of ethnic minority Garda and Garda Reserve trainees would "shortly be on board".