Allow Deputy Rabbitte to speak without interruption, please.

The Taoiseach will be aware that there were two more gangland murders in my constituency at the weekend and three gangland murders the previous weekend, and that there have been 17 gangland murders so far this year. The Taoiseach will recall the fulminations of his colleague, Deputy O'Donoghue, in opposition to the effect that if a letter went missing or a bicycle was stolen, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform of the day should resign. Since then, the figures show that four gun murders occurred in 1998, 20 in 2003 and 17 so far in 2005. Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform one year ago claimed he was satisfied that a murder in Blanchardstown was what he called the last sting of the dying wasp.

That must be last year's wasp.

There is now a veritable swarm of wasps, yet the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform seems to think that his first duty is as a panellist in various television and radio studios.

I will give the Taoiseach a statistic: 75 murders where guns were used occurred between 1998 and 2004, but proceedings were taken in only 26 cases, 35%, and convictions were secured in only 12 cases, 16%. The Taoiseach will have heard the State solicitor in Limerick last week explain that even where cases go to court, they fall asunder because witnesses are fearful and there is no adequate protection of witnesses.

The Deputy's time is concluded.

These gangland killings are turning the system into gangland law. It will not be long, if those involved feel they have a 90% chance of escape, before they turn their guns on targeted citizens.

The fulminations were not just those of Deputy O'Donoghue because the Taoiseach joined in on 21 April 1997 when he said he had a message for drug barons. He stated:

Our plan is to arrest you, prosecute you, and put you in jail. Fianna Fáil's plan for zero tolerance will put the gardaí and the community in the driving seat, with a major crackdown on all crime, and particularly on drug crime . . . Fianna Fáil's anti-drug strategy is a tough, totally co-ordinated programme to tackle each of the key players — the addict, the pusher, the drug baron.

Does the Taoiseach admit Government policy to date has been a complete failure and that there is fear on the streets at the level of lawlessness and gangland crime?

Regrettably, there were two gangland murders at the weekend, bringing to 17 or 18 the figure for gangland murders this year. The Minister had briefings yesterday and today with senior Garda officers, including the Garda Commissioner and deputy commissioner, on the double murder on Sunday night in south-west Dublin, to which Deputy Rabbitte referred. He briefed me and my Cabinet colleagues this morning on the double murder in south-west Dublin on Sunday night, referred to by Deputy Rabbitte. All the indications are that this event was part of a vicious feud between two relatively small groups that are struggling to control drug distribution in areas of the west side of Dublin. These people deal in death and they will kill to protect their patch and recover their debts. I am subject to correction on this, but I understand the gangs concerned are responsible for eight of the 18 murders committed this year. The Garda has invested a large amount of resources and detective and surveillance time into Operation Anvil to target these two gangs specifically. The vicious feud has continued for some time, as Deputy Rabbitte knows.

The Garda has been concentrating enormous resources in terms of manpower, overtime and intelligence towards suppressing the activities of what is a highly dangerous group of criminals in recent months. Its efforts have not been targeted exclusively at these two gangs, although it has concentrated on them significantly. Obviously, I cannot go through all the detail on which I have been briefed in this regard and, in any event, much of it is well known.

Garda activity under Operation Anvil, which was originally meant to be a short-term programme, has continued as the numbers of gardaí and specialist units have increased. There is now a drugs force in every Garda district. The Garda has 18,000 checkpoints under Operation Anvil while several hundred firearms and more than 2,350 vehicles have been seized. The Garda has had more than 5,000 drugs seizures, seven arrests for murders, 163 for serious robbery and several hundred for other forms of burglary. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, with the backing of the Government, has allocated considerable resources to Operation Anvil which will remain in place so long as it to continues to yield worthwhile results.

However, it is no use saying that drug crime is not lucrative. It attracts certain types of persons. The consequence of their disagreements, unfortunately, is death because that is how they do their business. This is of concern to everyone and the only way to tackle it is for the Garda to try to deal with the problem to the best of its ability, as it is doing. Not much remains unknown about these gangs, but the Garda must remain within the law in dealing with the problem, nonetheless.

The Taoiseach describes the problem well. However, many people will want to know why nothing adequate is being done to protect public safety, which is the first duty of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Government. The Taoiseach appears to think, because he describes what is taking place as a "vicious feud", that somehow this explains matters and we should all turn a blind eye. One has some idea why people are fearful in their homes, given this type of calculated assassination at 10 p.m. in the evening in Firhouse, a very quiet part of my constituency. I hear the Taoiseach saying that the Minister was briefed by the Garda Commissioner and so on. However, we have long since passed that stage.

The disconnect, so to speak, between the Garda and some of the communities where gangland rule dictates is very severe. The previous Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Donoghue, said he would be judged by how safe people feel in their homes and on the streets at the end of his term. If he were to be, it would be a very harsh judgment because people do not feel safe in their homes or on the streets. People are victims of anti-social behaviour like we have never seen before. Whatever briefings the Minister is having with the Garda authorities, there is no evidence of policing in whole tracts of my constituency and in urban and rural Ireland. That is the fact of the matter.

The Taoiseach talks about Operation Anvil. It is like shooting fish in a barrel for gardaí to stop motorists for bald tyres, defective lights and whatever. However, in the area of serious crime, the figures speak for themselves. The situation is deteriorating dramatically and if the Taoiseach accepts the benchmark of his comments in 1997 or the policy set out by the Government, he will see that there has been a complete failure because citizens feel helpless in the light of the extraordinary events now taking place every weekend. A State solicitor has said that even where prosecutions go to court, they cannot prevail because witnesses fear for their personal safety.

I have said previously that any crime is too much. There is no level of crime with which one can be happy.

Where are the 2,000 extra gardaí?

The Garda budget is more than €1 billion.

The Opposition should not behave like a fascist party. They should let the Taoiseach speak.

Allow the Taoiseach speak without interruption, please.

We have dramatically increased resources for the Garda, including technology, which is high for a population——

What about the telecommunications system for the Garda?

——of our size. Resources are being increased and invested in the Garda. Next year, there will be 14,000 gardaí and large numbers of specialist groups have been set up.

The Government has recruited 300 gardaí. It promised 2,000 and we have 300.

The crime rate per thousand of the population has fallen from what it was nine years ago.

That is bunkum.

The crime rate has fallen.

The figures speak for themselves.

The Chair will not allow a situation to develop where Deputy Rabbitte goes well over time in putting his question, goes outside Standing Orders and the Chair does not take appropriate action to ensure that the Taoiseach or any member of the Government can reply and there is fair play for both sides of the House.

I understand, but I was speaking under provocation from the Taoiseach.

A number of points were made by Deputy Rabbitte. He said that the prosecutions do not always produce results in court. That is a matter for the courts based on the evidence provided. However, we should give credit where it is due. Yesterday, we saw the conclusion to a serious murder case in Limerick which occurred some time ago when a night security worker was executed by a hit man on behalf of some gang. That case was resolved yesterday, which was a major achievement for the Garda. Today we have seen a major drug pusher arrested in Belgium. I have outlined the figures for Garda seizures of firearms and drugs and arrests for murder, robbery and the theft by gangs of high powered vehicles. We have seen the Garda crack down very hard on those gangs. The Garda is well aware of who is involved in the two gangs in the south-west Dublin murder and is making a major effort to close down their activities.

To paint the picture that Deputy Rabbitte does is not justified. We need to support the increasing numbers of gardaí through giving them resources and assisting them in every way possible. The law-abiding public is doing more and more in this regard. However, drugs are a lucrative business and attract very dangerous people. I do not have time to go through the legislation but we have provided all the legal powers possible on the Statute Book and in the Criminal Justice Bill to deal with these issues.