The Garda Commissioner and a number of senior officers have met with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice on gang-related violence in Dublin’s north inner city.
Nóirín O’Sullivan did not make any comment as she left the meeting at Government Buildings.
Garda Commish meeting with Taoiseach re crime has ended. No comment as she left #rtenews pic.twitter.com/7fEuzpXM04
— Joe Mag Raollaigh (@joemagraollaigh) May 25, 2016
Earlier, Enda Kenny told the Dáil that Minister for Health Simon Harris was preparing legislation to address the illegal dealing of prescription drugs.
He was responding to a statement from Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin who said gardaí currently do not have the power to act on the illegal sale of tablets, which was currently the main drug in the inner city.
Mr Martin said the Taoiseach was saying the State was powerless and he called for the full implementation of 2009 legislation.
"The gardaí and the State need to meet these criminals head on," he said.
He also said neither he, nor the local communities, felt the localised Criminal Assets Bureau, which was in the Programme for Government, was happening.
He added that the main drug in the inner city was tablets and legislation is needed to criminalise that as "'Incredibly the gardaí are not in a position to arrest on that."
Mr Kenny said what he said was this was a murderous feud and there is a strong international element, with murders being ordered abroad.
Those who are sent to carry out killings for very small sums, while those abroad enjoyed the trappings, he said.
However, the Government would not back off in the face of this, he said and he will meet community leaders when appropriate.
Garda Commish has just arrived at Gov buildings for meeting with @EndaKennyTD pic.twitter.com/K5I8qTMp9b
— Joe Mag Raollaigh (@joemagraollaigh) May 25, 2016
Call for minister to resign over handling of gang murders
The brother of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin has called for the Minister of Justice to resign as the issue of gang crime is not being addressed.
Independent Fingal County Councillor Jimmy Guerin said gardaí knew that at least five of the people who have been killed in the Hutch-Kinahan feud were under threat but they were unable to protect them.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke, Mr Guerin said we cannot have a murder a week in our city and said the Minister for Justice should resign because the problem is not being dealt with.
"I sit on the joint policing committee in Fingal and month after month all we hear from senior gardaí is that resources are the problem.
"And until we face up to this, resources are not being placed in the inner city, the manpower is not there and the gardaí are not taking the steps that are necessary in order to protect people's lives."
Former Special Branch detective Richie Culhane said this is an emergency and it has been growing for the last five years.
Speaking on the same programme, Mr Culhane added that when you under-resource a police force you will have a proliferation of crime.
He said gardaí have been stretched to the absolute limits and a serious and long-term investment is needed in the force.
Mr Culhane said when the IRA was a threat to the State, money was given to gardaí to protect and that needs to be done again now.
He said the "war on drugs" has not worked anywhere and we need to start thinking of imaginative ways to deal with the problem, adding that it is time now to "start from scratch" and properly address the problem.
"We need an absolute major investment in the force. If you don't have high grade intelligence coming into a police force you cannot tackle, or expect to tackle, the type of crime and instances that we are seeing on our streets at the moment and in order to get that intelligence you have to spend money - that's the bottom line."
A community activist in north Dublin inner city, Mick Rafferty, said the boundaries are gone and crime gangs are taking over.
He said if there was a similar pattern of murders in other communities there would be concentrated effort to prevent the attacks.
"This is a deliberate slaughter. If there was a similar pattern of shootings or of murders in any other community there would be a concentration to prevent it."
