As gangland violence claims more victims, there have been calls for the Army to be put on the streets. Are radical measures really practical? Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent, examines the options
Many people will have been touched by the words this week of newly widowed Jodie Ward. The 23-year-old mother sat waiting in her car outside a house on Greenhills Road, Walkinstown, Dublin, last Friday night as her husband, Edward (24), was discussing business with fellow car dealer Brian Downes (40).
As the men were finishing their conversation a gunman arrived and opened fire, hitting Downes seven times in the upper body and Ward three times.
Jodie Ward this week told how Downes's mother came running out of the house, shouting frantically.
"She was all blood, and she said . . . : 'My son's been shot'." Jodie immediately got out of her car and ran to her husband. "I went down to him and I checked him to see if he was alive," she says.
"I shook him and I seen Brian's little boy was running out to him, to Brian, checking him. There was all blood over Brian, I couldn't see any blood on Edward. I thought maybe he was knocked out and I shook him, and I knew he was dead." Jodie is now left to rear two young daughters, aged four and six months, without her husband. The young couple had already lost two sons, both of whom were stillborn.
Gardaí believe Edward Ward was an innocent victim who'd had the misfortune of being with Downes - who worked with a number of crime gangs in supplying vehicles, and was suspected of money-laundering - when the gunman came knocking.
As Jodie Ward sobbed through her interview with RTÉ this week, there was an air of familiarity about it, a sense that we had been here before.
Christine Campbell's name sprang to mind. She is the mother of Anthony Campbell, the 20-year-old plumber gunned down in Finglas last November by the same gunmen who killed gang leader Martin "Marlo" Hyland. The papers carried details at the time of how young Campbell was simply doing his job when he was shot. His mother sobbed as she appealed for information on the killers.
Eleven months on, more than 20 alleged members of Hyland's gang are facing serious gun- and drug-related charges. But nobody has been charged with the double murder.
As the Ward and Downes families were finalising funeral arrangements early this week, minor criminal Gary Grant was shot dead in an attack in Limerick believed to have been carried out by a fellow minor member of the Keane gang, just yards from his home on St Ita's Street in the St Mary's Park estate. Armed detectives and members of the Emergency Response Unit were closing a nearby checkpoint at the time.
Figures recently revealed in The Irish Times show that of the 113 gun murders committed in the nine years to October 1st, 2006, just 16 resulted in convictions.
The murders of Downes, Ward and Grant over the past eight days have led to calls by Fine Gael this week for the Army to be drafted in. However, the reality is that this year's gun homicide rate is much lower than last year.
Gary Grant's killing was the 14th gun murder so far this year, following a record high of 26 last year. Three of these deaths appear to be related to personal disputes rather than gangland criminality.
DR Ian O'Donnell, the director of UCD's institute of criminology, says that compared with other EU countries the homicide rate in Ireland was very low until around 10 years ago. He believes the surge since then, while regrettable, represents Ireland coming into line with international norms.
A comparison by him of homicides in EU capital cities for which data was available shows the rate in Dublin increased by 44.5 per cent between 1990-1992 and 2000-2002, the biggest increase of any EU capital.
O'Donnell says the national murder rate here, including gangland murders, is still average in the international context. He does not believe the recent increases in Dublin and other Irish cities will continue unabated.
"You had a similar surge in the 1970s and then it evened off again. There are a number of similarities between the 1970s and the period from the 1990s; the economy taking off, an increase in alcohol consumption."
The improving economy has led to an explosion in the demand for drugs, which is now an estimated €1 billion-a-year industry in the Republic. With the rewards so high and detection rates for gun homicides so low, it is little wonder that gangs will kill to protect their lucrative empires?
But what might be done to stop the killing?
Should we give greater resources to the Garda?
A new Organised Crime Unit (OCU) within the Garda has enjoyed significant success in the last two years. The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) and the Garda National Drugs Unit (GNDU) have also been successes.
However, senior officers who spoke to The Irish Times believe a lot more can be done by the force. Some point out that while local drug units have been established across the country, they are taken away from investigating drug-dealing if other policing needs emerge. "The drugs scene changes so fast that going back to something after a few weeks means you're back to square one," says one source.
Others, such as TD Tony Gregory, have consistently said that even the smaller criminals need to be targeted by Cab in order to put them out of business. Cab has already begun to pursue a number of such people. However, many in the force believe a major commitment to targeting the vast numbers of minor drug dealers now operating can only be achieved by allocating much greater resources to the bureau.
Others say the Garda Reserve needs to be accelerated to free up gardaí for front-line duties.
Should judges hand down tougher sentences?
Gardaí say that well-planned gangland killings are almost impossible to solve because evidence is hidden or destroyed and those involved do not co-operate with gardaí.
However, the same sources point to the fact that many of those engaged in organised crime are being caught with drugs. They say that when criminals appear before the courts they are not being given so-called mandatory 10-year prison sentences for hauls valued at more than €13,000.
In 2005, the last year for which figures are available, of the 80 criminals who were brought before the courts and were eligible for the 10-year term, just 10 received the sentence. Many gardaí believe if the full term was handed down more often the activities of many gangs would be seriously disrupted. They also say delays in securing hearing dates at Circuit Criminal Court level are resulting in criminals being granted bail and absconding. However, other sources point to delays within the Garda in preparing books of evidence. Some of these have been linked to personnel shortages at the State forensic laboratory, where quantities of seized drugs must be formally confirmed as drugs before a case can begin.
Should we put more people into the witness protection programme?
Many people who have witnessed crimes, and people who were once associated with criminals and decide to turn State witness, have been intimidated into withdrawing statements. On Thursday a man was convicted of perjury after he withdrew a statement in a murder case against Limerick man Liam Keane four years ago. The court heard that 28-year-old Roy Behan had been threatened he would be killed if he didn't withdraw the statement. He was also offered €30,000 by Keane's uncle, Kieran Keane (who was subsequently murdered), to withdraw the statement.
Criminals are able to carry out such intimidation because their cases are taking so long to come to court. The witness protection programme has had limited success, with most people simply unwilling to give up their lives to go into it. Changes to the criminal justice system that would allow witnesses maintain their anonymity would prove legally difficult but merit serious consideration.
Should we legalise drugs?
Legalisation of drugs would, in theory, take the trade out of the gangs' hands. However, observers say that if Ireland acted alone in this regard it would become a Mecca for drug users from around the world. It is also unclear how a legal drugs market here would be supplied by producers in other countries, where production is illegal. The issue also has complex health and social implications which require broad and lengthy debate, made difficult in a climate where such debate is politically unacceptable.
Should we send in the Army?
The idea of drafting in the Army to help the Garda tackle armed gangs has been dismissed by senior Garda and Army sources who spoke to The Irish Times. Firstly, the Army has no power of arrest, so even if soldiers witnessed a serious crime they would be powerless to stop it, save for shooting the perpetrators on sight.
The Army has no training in policing. It is also already overstretched, with a significant overseas mission in Kosovo, one in Lebanon coming to an end and two other missions - in Chad and with the EU's new battlegroups - in the planning stages.
One senior garda says that, with the possible exception of some housing estates in Limerick, there is no need for the Army. "The gangland rate is down. Sending the Army in would give the impression that the State has lost control. That simply isn't true."