Witness protection programme must go on proper footing to put gangs out of business
Issued : Saturday 10 February, 2007
Delegates, effective policing is not just about numbers of Gardaí on the beat, although that is of course a vital element. Effective policing is also about smart policing, about using the tactics of the 21st Century to penetrate and bring down highly orgnised gangs of motivated and ruthless individuals.
No one should be in any doubt about the scale of the threat posed by organised crime, which operates without frontiers and whose impact can now be felt in even the smallest and remote of Irish villages. And on our city streets there were a shocking 26 gun murders in 2006 alone, one every fortnight.
Nor should there be any doubt about the investment required, in time, personnel and equipment, to tackle these gangs. To give just one example: a decision to grant a person entry into the Garda Witness Protection Programme involves a commitment of around €2 million. A decision like that cannot be taken lightly. And we need to know that our investment is being rewarded.
It is now three and a half years since the Garda Witness Protection Programme received a significant setback, when it was strongly criticised by the Court of Criminal Appeal in the John Gilligan case. The court proposed that the Progaramme be put on a proper statutory footing.
Labour agrees and we will bring in the legislation to protect and improve the Witness Protection Programme. The programme is essential for the safety of individuals who have engaged in organised crime but are now prepared to give evidence against their former partners in crime.
And it is essential because the capacity of the Garda Síochána to combat organised crime is increasingly dependent upon the cooperation of those former gang members and their willingness to give evidence for the prosecution.
And it is not just former accomplices who need witness protection. Organised gangs thrive in a climate of fear. I know of cases in my own constituency where they have coerced their innocent victims into silence - into the withdrawal of charges and the refusal to cooperate with the Gardaí.
It is this climate of fear and coercion that is the greatest stumbling block in tackling organised crime. The Gardaí need the resources to assure innocent people under threat that their complaints will be dealt with thoroughly and in safety.
A working Witness Protection Programme is now an essential part of the Garda response to the changing nature of crime - organised crime, gang warfare, drug trafficking and significant funds entering the criminal world through drug-dealing and other criminal activities.
But, if the programme is to operate successfully, it must be reliable and effective. It must withstand charges that evidence has been bought, that prosecution witnesses are tainted or, as we now know happened in Northern Ireland, that prosecution informants have operated with impunity and committed far more crimes than their evidence may have prevented.
It is therefore vital that we place this programme on a proper statutory footing, as the Court of Criminal Appeal proposed.
The most effective way to ensure that major offenders in the world of organised crime are put behind bars for a long time is to put this scheme on a proper statutory basis, under proper and independent oversight, so as to safeguard it against any claims of abuse or miscarriage of justice.
Such a footing can only enhance the programme and improve the reliability of what is now an important part of the community's armoury in the battle against organised crime.
