Organised crime gangs involved in the State's drugs trade have grown as arrogant as they were in the years before Veronica Guerin was murdered, according to AGSI president Mr Joe Dirwan.
Mr Dirwan told delegates at the opening of the AGSI's annual conference last night that the now almost weekly incidents of gangland killings are "particularly worrying". He said such is the climate of fear it is impossible to get witnesses to come forward to give evidence which would secure convictions against perpetrators. Current assets confiscation legislation needed to be strengthened.
Performance monitoring for judges also needed to be introduced to ensure that judges are handing down much stiffer sentences to those convicted of drugs offences.
"By any performance indicator, judges who do not send convicted drug dealers to jail are hugely underperforming, and the statistics are there to prove it," he said. "It is a proven statistical fact that where tough sentences are handed down for drug dealing, dealing tends to be much lower in those areas.
Conversely, in the areas where sentences are suspended, cases adjourned etc., to give the dealer time to 'reform', those areas are awash with drugs." Mr Dirwan called for a targeted and properly resourced response within the force "to target the organised gangs before their power becomes so great they are once again a major threat to our society".
Drugs were cheaper and more widely available than ever and not even the smallest of Irish villages is drugs free.
The force was hampered by a personnel shortage at a time when crime was rising and greater violence was being used. The work of individual officers is being frustrated further by the fact the gardaí's new computer system, PULSE, is "still far too slow and cumbersome to use".
In response the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said the recent spate of gangland killings had been committed by "vicious thugs who are beyond the reach of reason or morality".
The Strategic Management Initiative steering committee was examining the establishment of a new Organised Crime Unit and he "looked forward to seeing its recommendation on the matter". The 10 new Regional Drugs Task Forces would also help to address the issue of drug abuse in rural areas.
