IRISH POLITICAL philosopher Edmund Burke once warned: “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”. Later, he advised: “when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, in unpitied sacrifice”. Those basic requirements for a properly functioning civil society can make challenging demands on ordinary citizens. All the more reason, then, that the State should provide courageous individuals with robust supports when they do their duty.
The experience of Steve Collins and his family in Limerick, as detailed by Kathy Sheridan in today’s Weekend Review, exposes the unbalanced nature of the State’s response to the emergence of gun-toting, drug-dealing gangs that seek to control entire communities through threats of murder and mayhem. New laws have been passed to make it easier to secure convictions against members of these gangs. But there has been no change to a woefully inadequate witness protection programme. This is a major oversight and should be addressed as a matter of urgency.
The murderous nature of gangland activities, as disparate groups attempt to dominate the drugs trade and intimidate local communities, means that witnesses are reluctant to give evidence in court. As a consequence, the Garda success rate in securing convictions for gun crime stands at about 14 per cent. That is unacceptably low. But it is understandable when you consider the consequences that beset the Collins family when it challenged and then gave evidence against members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang in Limerick.
Steve Collins saw his son Roy murdered and his pub business damaged last year because he did his civic duty. It all started five years earlier when his adopted son Ryan was shot and maimed when he refused drink to an under-aged girl and local gangster Wayne Dundon took offence. Dundon was subsequently jailed for ten years.
Mr Collins is critical of the way in which, over a period of 15 years, drug gangs were permitted to take over entire housing estates in Limerick and intimidate residents. And while a programme of physical renewal is now under way, the fact that brand new community facilities are being denied to young children because of insurance costs, appals him. Kids are so vulnerable, he says, so easily led.
The experiences of the Collins family have been extreme. But unless the Government takes action to reassure the public that evidence can be safely given in court, the conviction rate against dangerous criminals will drop even further. The inadequacies of the current witness protection programme are acute. Offering to train a 55-year-old-man as a carpenter, so that he can make a new life in a foreign country, is a ludicrously inadequate response to a serious issue. If tens of billions of euro can be spent on the rescue of malfunctioning banks, what price should be paid for an acceptable quality of life for individuals threatened by drug gangs and for functioning law and order? Steve Collins and his family have paid the ultimate price.