Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said today the Garda was "meeting the challenge" posed by gangland gun crime but hit out at the judiciary over bail and mandatory sentences.
Michael McDowell
Speaking at the passing out ceremony for the first batch of Garda Reservists in Templemore today, Mr McDowell said the Garda "continues to stand as the bulwark of civilised society against barbarous murderers such as those who have brought violence to our country in recent days."
There have been five violent deaths since last Friday. The latest victim was gunned down in Dublin's International Financial Services Centre on Wednesday night. Gerard "Bath" Byrne (25), was shot up to five times in the head just before 9pm outside the Mace supermarket on Lower Mayor Street in the IFSC.
He was taken to the Mater Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Apprentice plumber Anthony Campbell (20) was shot dead in a Finglas house on Tuesday morning before gunmen killed intended target - drug lord Martin "Marlo" Hyland.
Speaking in the Dáil last night, Mr McDowell said it was "a matter of common sense that the ability of An Garda Síochána to deal with persons involved in serious crimes is seriously hampered when persons charged with firearms or drugs offences are freed on bail to commit further offences.
"That is why I am exploring and taking advice as to further measures that might be taken to address the issues which arise in terms of dealing with bail applications in such cases,"
Speaking today, the Minister said: "The damage these people are doing is so big that 10 years is in fact the minimum that the legislature says should be imposed in these type of cases and life is the maximum.
"This notion that it is unjust to give 10 years is in my view a matter of attitude. I'm not a judge myself, it is not my function to direct judges how to carry our their functions under the Constitution.
"I'm saying there is nothing in the law that requires on a mass basis - 80 per cent at least of these cases - that a minimum sentence prescribed by law should be departed from on the basis that it would be unjust.
He said the result of the current application of the law was "totally at variance with the clear intention of the legislature and the will of the people."
"If judges in 80 per cent of cases consider that minimum mandatory sentence is unjust then it's a matter of their attitude rather than the people's attitude or the legislature's attitude that need to be looked at," he added.
"In order to get a consistent application of bail law in serious cases of this kind that we can't just have a lottery that the applicants wait until they find a judge who they think is soft on the issue ... we have to have a consistent application of the law".
Mr McDowell said that An Garda Síochána was "meeting that challenge with the wholehearted support of this Government"
"The Garda Commissioner is confident that he has the resources he needs to tackle the scourge of gangland crime."
He is due to address the issue of serious crime on tonight's Late Late Showon RTÉ.
Reacting to Mr McDowell's comments, Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe said the Minister should give greater powers to the DPP on bail "instead of launching a pointless attack on the judiciary in a desperate attempt to deflect blame".
"If the Minister wishes to speak to the judiciary, he should engage with the Presidents of the various courts, rather than publicly excoriating them," he said. "The Minister has singularly failed to reform the bail laws."
Labour's spokesman on justice Brendan Howlin said Mr McDowell's comments were "another intemperate attack on the judiciary in an effort to divert attention away from his own dismal record."
"While mandatory sentences are appropriate in the cases of certain very serious crimes they are of little value if the perpetrators are not brought to justice," headded.
He said that while there had been more than 120 gun murders carried out since 1998, proceedings were commenced in only 30 per cent of the cases.
