DÁIL SKETCH:The House heard of 'guys rolling up to the dole office in 4x4s' among other realities of life on Limerick's streets
THE DÁIL debate on criminal gangs portrayed a slice of Limerick life - a very surreal slice. And if it wasn't so sad it would be farcical.
TDs, predominantly Limerick-based deputies including the Minister for Defence, as well as the Minister for Justice and Opposition spokesman for justice, contributed to the debate.
And a tragi-comic picture emerged of an embattled police force dealing with sophisticated and legally adept criminals.
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh talked about "Radio Gaga". That's the Garda radio frequency in Limerick, so-called because there are so many scanners in the city to listen to the gardaí.
And fear that their name might be heard by criminals scanning Garda communications prevents many citizens reporting serious crime. But while secure digital radio comes to Dublin next year, Limerick will have to wait until 2010, even though, as the murder of Shane Geoghegan proved, crime levels are at least as bad as pockets of the capital, the Sinn Féin TD said.
Limerick East Labour TD Jan O'Sullivan told how "guys roll up to the labour exchange in 4x4 cars". The Criminal Assets Bureau should be allowed to seize assets of lower value than the current limits, she said.
She told of the clever ways drug dealers keep their business going. Gangs will do anything to keep heroin addicts addicted to their product "including dropping free drugs through their letter boxes".
Fine Gael Limerick East TD Michael Noonan pointed out that "everyone knows" the main gang members involved in Mr Geoghegan's murder and that "they organise the drugs trade, not only in Limerick but much further afield."
He then explained the training gang members get in resisting questioning during interrogation. "At interview, they put their heads down and pretend to go sleep. It is their rest period. Longer interrogation periods should be allowed and a video recording of interrogation should be sufficient," he said, pointing out that there has to be a written record of the interrogation. So, when a garda stops to write, "the flow" stops and the gang member "has the opportunity to make another facile excuse".
Fine Gael's Kieran O'Donnell, another Limerick East TD, spoke of Mr Geoghegan's requiem as "probably the saddest funeral I was ever at, and I never again want to attend another funeral like it in Limerick".
Forty criminal gang members are in custody and this shows the depth of the problem. He also pointed to another problem that everyone thought had been sorted, that mobile phones are being used in Limerick prison to direct operations.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern reiterated that there is "no magic solution". He defended gardaí, praised their efforts and reiterated his determinationfor a relentless war against criminals.
