Opposition calls for new approach to gun crime

The Labour Party has called for a fundamental review of the Garda's approach to gangs and gun murders following the double murder…

The Labour Party has called for a fundamental review of the Garda's approach to gangs and gun murders following the double murder of two men in an apparent gangland killing in Dublin last night.

Fine Gael said the Garda should be given more resources and that a special taskforce should be set up to tackle such crime.

Speaking following the murders of the men in Firhouse last night, Labour's justice spokesman Joe Costello said the events were "a further indication of the extent to which criminal gangs have easy access to deadly weapons and their willingness to use them".

It is believed the men were lured into a trap by a rival gang.

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"These killings bring to 18 the number of gangland killings recorded this year, more than twice the level recorded in 2004," Mr Costello said.

"The apparent indifference of the Minister for Justice in the face of this death toll is difficult to understand. We clearly need a fundamental review of the gardai's approach to dealing with the gangs and particularly with gun murders."

Mr Costello said the conviction rate for those involved in such killings was "so low" that the gang leaders knew they could "order these murders with virtual impunity and with little danger of being brought to justice".

"Figures I obtained from the Minister for Justice earlier this year show that fewer than one in six of murder cases in which guns were used over the past seven years resulted in convictions in the courts," Mr Costello said.

"The only way in which these gangs can be put out of business is through a sustained, high-powered, intensive surveillance and detection operation of the type ordered by the Rainbow government after the murder of Veronica Guerin. This is demanding in terms of personnel and cost, but it must be done if further murders are to be averted."

Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe proposed the creation of a dedicated Garda taskforce to tackle gangland crime following the murders.

"The killing of two men in Firhouse suggests that assassinations have become a shockingly routine feature of life in the capital. Minister McDowell's only response to the resurgence of gangland shootings has been the stop-go approach of Operation Anvil, which is only being funded for a limited period. This is not the answer to what is clearly an on-going problem," he said.

"The only way to get to the root of the problem is dedicated and continuing activity against gangland activities. The Garda Síochána must be provided with sufficient resources to tackle gangland, because the force simply does not have the numbers at the moment. In many ways the chickens are coming home to roost for Michael McDowell's failure to provide 2,000 extra Gardaí, of which only 300 have been provided."

McDowell said he believed the killings last night were a "very careful, cold and ruthless trap" but denied gardaí were losing the battle against gangland crime. He said that if the current Operation Anvil had not been in place, many more people would have lost their lives.