Minister for Justice Alan Shatter told the Dáil this evening that those who routinely try to avoid gardaí to commit crime cannot in turn expect garda protection.
Mr Shatter said that even when members of criminal gangs were clearly at risk they will generally not co-operate with gardaí and do everything they can to avoid garda attention.
He said it was therefore unrealistic that the Garda Commissioner would devote his entire resources to individually protecting such people.
Such an approach, he said, would come at the expense of ordinary garda activity to protect the community generally.
The minister also said he shared the concern about the incidence of attacks and attempted attacks using pipe bombs.
However, he said there are substantial garda operations to tackle the problem, focused on disrupting the use of pipe bombs and bringing those involved before the courts.
