Taoiseach: We will support gardaí 100% in fighting gangland crime
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said there has been a “new escalation” in gangland crime which cannot be tolerated.
Reacting to last night’s murder which is believed to have been a gangland retaliation attack, Mr Kenny said the government are “100% behind” Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan and will be providing all the resources needed to the gardaí.
Eddie Hutch Snr was murdered when four masked men broke into his home in Dublin’s north inner city at around 7.45pm.
It is believed his murder was in retaliation for the shooting dead of David Byrne in the Regency Hotel in Drumcondra last Friday.
But the GRA, which represents rank-and-file gardaí, has this morning come out strongly against the Government for not providing enough resources to the force.
GRA president Dermot O’Brien told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland radio programme that the force is under-resourced and called on members to be protected “when they go out there”.
“We are also looking for the immediate introduction of the MP7 machine gun,” he said.
“And the return of the Uzi until the MP7 is introduced,” Mr O’Brien said adding that it had been taken away in 2012 and not replaced.
Speaking on the campaign trail in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, Mr Kenny said: “There has been a new escalation in the crime gangland war in Dublin with the shooting dead of another person yesterday evening.
“I have advised the Minister for Justice that she can say to the Commissioner for the Gardaí that we will support the gardaí and the Commissioner 100% in their efforts to deal with this and we will see that the resources that are necessary for emergency response units and the facilities to do their job will be supplied to the gardaí and to the force in Dublin and elsewhere around the country.
“This is not a situation that we can tolerate, where innocent people may be caught purely innocently in the way of gangland crime.”
He said that the number of gangland murders had dropped in recent years but “one is too many”.
Mr Kenny said that Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald would be putting out a statement after her meeting with the Garda Commissioner this afternoon.
He added that the Government remained committed to establishing a second Special Criminal Court.
“We know that this is necessary because the criminal gangland people or those dissident republicans have not regard for either life or limb, or law and order in this democracy,” Mr Kenny said.
“This party was founded on a principal of having law and order. We support fully the Garda Commissioner and the gardaí and we will supply them with the resources to do the job that is necessary.”
