Government will stay strong on law and order

Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

LIMERICK Garda numbers will be restored to more than 600 and the Special Criminal Court will continue to ensure that the city’s gang leaders will be kept off the city streets.

That was the central commitment from Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan when she launched her General Election campaign on Tuesday.

Stating that she will be in her “hardest fight” to retain her Dáil seat on February 26, she warned that the Sinn Fein proposal to abolish the Special Criminal Court “would undo all the very good work done by Gardaí”.

“There might again be the kind of problems that we have had in the past and we don’t want to go back to that. The good work of the Gardaí in Limerick needs to be continued and the Special Criminal Court is very much part of that.

“The Special Criminal Court has been an integral part of putting away the people who have led crime in Limerick and who have been extremely damaging and dangerous to our communities.

“The main thing has been the work of the Gardai, but part of it also has been the fact that there has been a court where people could be brought to; where juries would not be intimidated and we need to ensure that it continues in the sense that there are three judges, there is a right of appeal. It’s the same as any other court apart from the fact that there isn’t a jury,”she explained.

The Labour Party candidate for the Limerick City constituency said that the Government had committed to restore Garda numbers in Limerick to above 600 and this would remain a commitment if they were returned to power.

Asked if methods used by Limerick Gardaí in tackling gangland crime could be replicated in Dublin following the recent spate of murders and gun attacks, Minister O’Sullivan said that Limerick Gardaí had “great success because they had really good intelligence and they used it as well as the extra legislative powers given to the force.

“There are issues that need to be addressed for the policing of certain communities. The Garda Commissioner and senior Gardaí have said that there isn’t an issue of resources, but there are always going to be challenges around gangland activity,” she added.

Asked if there were elements in the criminal underworld that were “unpoliceable”, Minister O’Sullivan said that “policing is very difficult of people like that because they protect themselves and have people around them who are clever at outwitting the forces of law and order, but it’s a battle that we can’t afford to lose and a battle that has to be continued.

“There is a real fear that if Sinn Fein win a significant numbers of seats that the Special Criminal Court could be dismantled”, she said.

However she refuted suggestions that Government had “taken the eye off the ball in relation to the administration of justice in favour of focusing on the economy and it’s recovery”.