This morning, in broad daylight, our capital city witnessed yet another barbaric gangland shooting and murder when Gareth Hutch was brutally murdered on North Cumberland Street. Over the past 100 days, seven men have been murdered in our capital city. I condemn in the strongest possible manner the callous and brutal murders that are taking place and I am sure everybody in the House would agree. The situation is out of control.

Last Thursday, I met various groups representing the north inner city, from the Inner City Organisations Network, ICON, to the Community Policing Forum to the North Inner City Drugs Task Force. They spoke about a community that is under siege and under-resourced in terms of dealing with the fundamentals of this problem, of both the immediate implications of this particular gangland feud and wider issues that underpin this and give rise to its continuance within their community. They are saying intimidation is rife across the community and that young people are getting up to €200 for the distribution of tablets, which is now the main drug form in the area in terms of various medicines and so on. The incentives for young people to get involved in this drug trade are enormous and it is very challenging for other young people to combat that and to send them in a different direction. There is a fundamental disregard for human life and for our community.

These groups are saying to us that they feel the supports that were put in from the late 1990s onwards have been eroded over the past number of years. For example, the young people's development and facilities fund is being undermined by Tusla as we speak and other kinds of supports that were steadily put in are being taken away from them.

Can we have a question, please?

In 1996, after the murder of Veronica Guerin, there was a scaling up of the State's interventions to deal with that situation. The fundamental question is whether the Taoiseach accepts that a similar scaling up is required from the State right now in terms of what is going on in the north inner city and this particular gangland feud. An inter-agency targeted response is required to deal with all the issues that have given rise to this situation, from education to employment. The need to establish mini-criminal assets bureaux to deal with community-based drug dealers, for example, is something that they are advocating and want immediate action on. Can the Taoiseach confirm that such a high-level, targeted inter-agency response will be provided by the Government as a matter of urgency?

First, I absolutely condemn the cold-blooded murder of a man this morning, when gunmen entered the Avondale House flats on North Cumberland Street and shot two nephews of Gerry Hutch. Gareth Hutch, aged 35, was fatally wounded and Ross Hutch, aged 24, is understood to have received non-fatal injuries. This happened in broad daylight, in very close proximity to an armed Garda unit on patrol.

I utterly condemn what has happened today. These people know no respect for life or limb. I have heard people from the community speak today including the Archbishop of Dublin. I have received an invitation from Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan to go to the location and I intend to accept the invite. I was there recently when I attended the funeral of Martin O'Rourke, an innocent man who was murdered in close proximity to the location of today's shooting.

Deputy Martin has pointed out that when Veronica Guerin, God rest her, was shot at Newlands Cross, the Government of the day ramped up the situation to deal with those who carried out that murder and the gangs involved at that time. Obviously it took quite a long time for people to be brought to justice and to serve prison sentences arising from that murder. I met with the Garda Commissioner along with senior Garda personnel and the Minister for Justice and Equality quite recently. I asked the direct question: "Are you having sufficient resources made available to you to do the job that you need to do?" I think that Deputies might not fully appreciate the scale of personnel involved in this kind of activity from a Garda resources point of view. I was assured, as was the Minister for Justice and Equality, that the resources and facilities are being made available to gardaí which they require to do the job. The Minister also met with people last week and very major investigations are ongoing since the Regency Hotel murder. The work that has to be done by the gardaí and by intelligence personnel is painstaking and very labour intensive and that point was made to me. Over the years gangland criminals have become more sophisticated in the way they communicate but not so much in the way they deliver their death warrants which is still by guns and bullets and at times entry to locations where indiscriminate shooting takes place.

There has been absolutely no scaling back with regard to the operations or resources available to the Commissioner and the gardaí to do this job. Following this morning's murder and shooting I hope the Garda can bring those perpetrators to justice quickly.

There will be one minute for a supplementary response. I call Deputy Martin.

I am quite disappointed by the Taoiseach's response. It is not just about gardaí and resourcing of the Garda, although the communities are very clear that they need additional policing. What is happening is not working. There have been seven murders in the space of 100 days. It is very challenging for the gardaí. Community groups have been pointing out that there has been a sustained erosion of the supports they once enjoyed. The root cause of this is the drug trade. We have had the absence of a Minister for drugs for quite a long number of years which has been a mistake. There is an absence of a deep strategy. Something had to happen - and it did happen - in Limerick to elicit an above normal response. One needs a consistent and sustained multi-agency approach to this issue from the bottom up. Community supports need to be put in place, education supports need to be put in place along with stronger out of the norm employment supports for the medium and longer term issues. In the immediate sense there is a huge issue around intimidation which is rife in that locality and with regard to the degree to which these gangs are controlling the scene there. It is at this particular point out of control. I ask the Taoiseach if he accepts my point about the multidimensional nature of this problem. It is not just one issue on its own. It really needs the Government to take a specific, focused, out of the normal response to the north inner city area to free the people there-----

I thank the Deputy.

-----to allow the citizens to live quality lives in safety, security and in peace, which is a basic obligation of the State to its people and to its citizens and which unfortunately is not being fulfilled right now because of these marauding gangs. That is the reality and the Government needs to wake up to that.

Nobody disputes that fear stalks the streets and the communities to which he refers and which I have heard people speak of. However, it is not normal to have 1,000 intensive, armed checkpoints since February in any location but that is what is being done. The Minister met with the Commissioner to request particular strengthening of Garda resources to deal with gangland crime in the inner city and an extra €5 million was made available to concentrate police measures in those areas. Young men and young women working with the police force who know those areas are the personnel and yet this morning in the Avondale House flat complex, despite the fact of the proximity of an armed Garda checkpoint, these killers went in and murdered one man and wounded another.

Obviously for communities the very visible checkpoints themselves cause consternation and fear - and why would they not when people normally go about their business in a law-abiding fashion. This is a vicious and murderous dispute between two families and I do not think I can stop that. However, the Government can provide the resources and wherewithal that the Garda Commissioner needs in order to have her forces deal with this in the way that they have to.

I am quite prepared to accept that things are different than they were 20 years ago but I would like the Minister for Justice to see to it that we meet with those communities and demonstrate to them that the Government is serious about their protection and that there would be no diminution of facilities, services or resources. I believe I will accept Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan's invitation to meet those communities to hear at first hand what the Deputy is telling me. From our point of view the Garda Commissioner has confirmed that she is happy with resources, the strength and the facilities made available to the gardaí to deal with this. This is another unfortunate murder and shooting of another man.