Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy has said the proposed legislation on covert surveillance due before the Dáil shortly will help in the fight against gangland crime.
Mr Murphy also insisted the level of gun crime in Limerick has fallen over the past year and garda numbers in the city were increasing.
In an interview on RTE's
Marian Finucaneprogramme, Mr Murphy said he was "glad to see" that new legislation is going to go through the Dail in relation to surveillance".
The new legislation will put surveillance work on a statutory footing, allowing any evidence gathered through surveillance to be admissible in court, he said.
He insisted the number of gardai patrolling the streets of Limerick were higher than ever before. As a result, drug detections were up and gun crime was down by 60 per cent in the city over the past year.