THE Labour party had in the past given the impression that it was not in touch with the "often harsh reality of crime on our streets and in our neighbourhoods", the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, said yesterday.
But a rigorous reassessment of Labour policies had led the party to conclude clusion that a broader policy was required if it was to achieve its objectives in this area.
Mr Quinn, who is also deputy leader of the party, was speaking at the selection convention for the Carlow Kilkenny constituency last night at which the outgoing TD, Mr Seamus Pattison, and Senator Jim Townsend were chosen to contest the forthcoming election.
"In our attempts to understand the causes of crime, we tended to overlook the plight of the victim. While we rightly focused on the social conditions that gave rise to certain crimes, we did not properly recognise the individual responsibility of citizens to respect each other," Mr Quinn added.
The unspeakable murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin had "convinced" Labour that piecemeal reforms of the criminal justice code were no longer enough.
"By all means, my colleague the Minister for Justice must continue the praiseworthy changes to the administration of justice she has undertaken. However, the events of 1996 showed the need for a radical new approach characterised by the seizure of the assets of the criminal drugs barons and their impoverishment," Mr Quinn said.
The Criminal Assets Bureau which he had piloted through the Dail had delivered that radical approach, he added.