Ahern: Gardaí can't win with 'pencil and a book'
Gardaí cannot be expected to deal with gangland criminals with their notepads and pens, the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern claimed today.
He told the Dáil it was “unfair” that if a Garda hit the wrong person he could be hauled before a disciplinary panel.
And he admitted his one regret was that Irish society was too easy on such people. “There are groups of people, you know them and I know them, who are gangsters, thugs and criminals,” he said.
“And they are quite prepared, in my area and in yours, to operate activities to make large amounts of money to have their properties in Spain and Amsterdam and elsewhere.”
Mr Ahern said he wished society was tough enough and strong enough to stand up to such people but insisted that the gardaí were doing their best.
“The one thing I regret is why we are so easy on these people,” he added. “We believe a Garda with a book and a pencil can deal with those people. But if a Garda hits the wrong one he will be up in front of a disciplinary code. It’s unfair to the gardaí.”
The Taoiseach was responding to a question by Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins, who asked him to explain why in the Ireland of 2004 an innocent man was slaughtered as his partner and young child slept beside him.
He was referring to the gangland murder of 23-year-old Paul Cunningham in west Dublin at the weekend. The gun attack came after a week of heightened tensions between feuding factions in the area.
But Mr Ahern asked: “How, in the name of God, can a Garda with a pencil and a book deal with these people?
“We are up against hardened criminals who are not in the same category as disadvantaged people. Let us not mistake who we are up against.”
