Last week the Central Statistics Office published the headline crime statistics for 2007, which are the worst for several years. In the last quarter of 2007, headline crimes were 6% higher than the corresponding period in 2006. As Members are aware, headline crimes constitute the more serious crimes to be recorded. In 2007, almost 105,000 headline crimes were recorded in this State, which is more than 2,000 serious crimes per week or almost 300 per day. They included the crime of murder, which has increased from 60 to 78 in 2007, which was the highest number of killings to occur in the State since the Civil War. This trend has continued in recent weeks. A gun murder took place in Sligo recently, as did the attempted murder of a well-known criminal in Dublin. Yesterday's news suggests we have exported our gang wars to Spain.

I do not subscribe to the notion that whenever a crime takes place, the Government is at fault. However, it is the Government's responsibility to reverse the trend of increasing crime in the State. The Government has set this objective for itself a number of times. I again ask the Taoiseach to take up a number of proposals that have been made by the Labour Party. Labour has tabled two pieces of legislation on the Order Paper, the first of which is to put on a statutory basis the witness protection programme, while the second is to improve the surveillance in which the Garda can engage.

In addition, will the Taoiseach take up Labour's proposal to increase greatly the number of community gardaí? In particular, will he arrange for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to discuss with the Garda authorities the possibility of deploying increasing numbers of community gardaí by drawing on the increased numbers of gardaí who will graduate shortly from Templemore?

In that context, I remind the Taoiseach of a matter about which I was reminded recently, when the welcome announcement was made of the plans to renew the area of Moyross in Limerick. I refer to a speech made in this House on 11 March 1992 by the late Deputy Jim Kemmy, in which he described the conditions in parts of that city. At that time, his simple request was for a 24-hour Garda presence in some of the affected estates. It is a great pity that the stitch in time approach then suggested by Deputy Kemmy was not adopted, as it might have saved much trouble in the meantime. However, we can learn from it and I ask the Taoiseach whether he will take up the two approaches the Labour Party has been recommending for some time to deal with the escalating crime problem.

I certainly will discuss with the Minister the positive suggestions made by Deputy Gilmore. As he is aware, I raised one of them previously and the previous Garda Commissioner did not consider the mandatory basis to be a priority. However, I will raise both proposals again.

I will comment on the figures. Yesterday, the Minister advised me the Garda works closely with international law enforcement agencies in targeting the activities of Irish criminals who operate outside the jurisdiction. The offices both of Europol and Interpol also are used extensively to co-ordinate the exchange of intelligence in the targeting of such criminals. In addition, for a number of years the Garda Síochána has posted liaison officers to London, Paris, Madrid and the Hague. Their function is to liaise with law enforcement authorities in those jurisdictions in the context of serious criminal activity with an Irish dimension. Other jurisdictions do the same and it is necessary to so do because many such criminals try to operate on a hands-off basis in this jurisdiction by having others carry out their activities while living abroad themselves.

The Garda Síochána also has appointed liaison officers to Europol, which is based in the Hague, and to Interpol, which is based in Lyons. It soon is to have a liaison officer assigned to the analysis and operations centre based in Lisbon, which is the drug trafficking, intelligence and interdiction centre. The Garda works with law enforcement agencies in other jurisdictions as well trying to have exchanges of strategic intelligence on the activities and modus operandi of criminal networks involved in organised crime. It also conducts investigations within the State at the request of foreign law enforcement agencies in accordance with legislation governing mutual assistance in criminal matters. In addition, the Criminal Assets Bureau continues its statutory remit on these issues.

The figures are as outlined by Deputy Gilmore. The number of homicides has increased from 67 in 2006 to 84 last year. The Garda Commissioner's reported detection rate in respect of murders and manslaughters last year was 68% and 100% respectively. The Garda is working hard in respect of firearms and gang-related crime in particular. The level in this regard was reduced significantly last year and it was not in this area that problems arose.

There was a doubling of the number of homicides involving stabbing from 18 to 36. That is where the difficulty lay last year. It shows that, despite our having had a number of campaigns on knives, particularly in 2005, a knife amnesty and efforts on foot of the policing plan to deal with this issue, they did not prove effective last year. The figure has doubled and there is no argument about that. This year's policing plan reflects the intensified efforts of the Garda to tackle knife crime and includes a campaign aimed at discouraging people from carrying knives. We must get the message across and I will play my part in doing so. Carrying knives not only attracts heavy penalties but can lead to disastrous consequences. We must also be conscious that domestic violence can ultimately lead to death and in this regard we continue to support the efforts of COSC, the agency spearheading the tackling of domestic violence.

The Garda Commissioner has reported that the overall detection rate for headline offences last year, 41%, represents a slight increase, yet the figure needs to increase further. That there has been a substantial increase in drug-related detections is to be welcomed.

The budget for the Garda in dealing with all these issues and for the policing plan for this year is €1.6 billion. We must maintain a close focus on trying to reduce the crime rates. In spite of an increase in population, the figures are still high.

The Taoiseach is a great man for quoting statistics to suit his purposes. He regularly regales us with invidious comparisons between the time he took up office in 1997 and today, particularly in respect of economic matters. However, I remind him that when he entered office, he did so on the promise of zero tolerance of crime, yet the country is now being asked to tolerate levels of crime that are far higher than they were when he entered office.

The Taoiseach stated many of the crimes, particularly gang-related crimes, are linked to the drugs trade. He is correct that many of the crimes are now international and that much border-hopping is being done by criminals. However, in this age surveillance technology should be capable of identifying criminals, the nature of their activities and putting them behind bars. We have recently seen convictions being secured on the basis of tracking the locations of mobile phones. It is with this in mind that the Labour Party has proposed to the Government a number of measures to secure convictions, including the improvement of the powers of surveillance of gardaí and the use of their discoveries in court. These powers would be complemented by witness protection programmes so the criminals will not be able to avoid justice and slip off to the sun or wherever they go to live off the proceeds of their crimes.

This is an area in which the Government has not delivered on its promises. I do not want to continue to blame the Government for this but we need to see more action and urgency. In this regard, the proposals for legislation and on community policing have been on the table for some time and I would like to see some action by the Government to deliver on them.

As I stated, we will certainly look at the legislation. The Criminal Justice Act 2007, which was enacted in 2006 and came into effect last year, dealt with all the legislative measures the Garda wanted to deal with these issues. Technology keeps advancing and I will not argue with that. If there are enhancements that can be made to the technology system, they will be considered, although I know those involved in criminal activity are probably some of the best clients of the mobile phone industries because they change their phones every day. They discard them so technology cannot trace them. There is obviously new technology available and I am sure the Garda and its investigative teams are on top of it. The Government is obviously in favour of this and has provided significant resources for the Garda in this regard.

The Criminal Justice Act 2007 relates to gangland crime and makes it more difficult to get bail. It deals with people involved in drug trafficking, firearms offences or other serious crimes. It introduced tighter controls over post-release activity, enhanced penalties for those who reoffend within seven years, mandatory minimum sentences in cases of drug trafficking and firearms offences and the indefinite retention of fingerprint samples. All these fairly draconian measures are now law and available to the Garda in its activities.

An enormous number of gardaí are coming out of Templemore and the numbers have increased. We have been giving preference to the road traffic corps and have built up the number therein. There are now 800 in the corps and it is to increase to 1,200 in order to deal with the problems under its remit. Although we are aware of the ongoing difficulties in this regard, the corps has had great successes.

Obviously it is essential that Operation Anvil and other measures of the criminal justice system designed to target criminal gangs, particularly those in drug trafficking, receive the lion's share of the resources. That is the Minister's policy.