The Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has signalled a crackdown on licensed handguns.
Mr Ahern was responding in the Dáil last night to Opposition criticism of the Government's tackling of organised crime.
The murder of Shane Geoghegan in Limerick prompted the private members' debate, with Fine Gael calling for new measures to crackdown on crime gangs.
Fine Gael justice spokesperson Charlie Flanagan said that by failing to prosecute organised crime-linked murders, the Government is failing the victims, failing their families and failing society.
Party colleague Jimmy Deenihan warned that organised crime in Limerick was about to spread into surrounding areas like his own north Kerry constituency, where he said the Limerick gangs were already in control of the drugs trade.
In response, Mr Ahern promised new legislation, including the covert surveillance bill he announced earlier in the day, as well as multi-agency checkpoints including gardaí, customs, social welfare and environment to put relentless pressure on criminal gangs.
He added that there had been no legally held handguns until a number of judicial decisions in 2004, and that he would not tolerate a proliferation of such weapons.
