Seanad report:The Government should consider introducing administrative detention for a limited period to take ruthless gang members off the streets, Brian Hayes, Fine Gael leader in the House, proposed.
It was only a matter of time before innocent bystanders were seriously injured or killed as a result of the gangland warfare in Dublin.
Mr Hayes, who advocated that there be a criminal offence of gang membership, said: "We are told regularly that the Garda know who these individuals are and where they operate from.
"Detaining 40 or 50 individuals for a limited period, following the charge of gangland membership, may help to break up the command structure within these gangs, and also act as a serious deterrent to those who make their living from wielding such control."
This would enable gardaí to build cases against gang members as witnesses would come forward without the constant fear of intimidation and threat.
All decisions to detain individuals should be a matter for the Special Criminal Court on application by the Garda, and only after a charge of gang membership had been preferred.
Recent revelations about the way the war in Iraq was being conducted were a source of embarrassment to the friends of the US throughout the western world, Martin Mansergh (FF) told the House. He was voicing his concerns about the use of white phosphorus by US forces.
Acting leader of the Seanad John Minihan (PD) said he believed the leader, Mary O'Rourke, had indicated she would ask the Government to protest in the strongest fashion about the use of chemical weapons by US forces. "I fully support that."
Jim Walsh (FF) said it was absolutely unconscionable that the use of chemical weapons in Iraq had taken place in view of the pretext for the invasion which had been based on these very weapons.
Labhras Ó Murchú (FF) said the US admission that such weapons had been used by them was absolutely mind-boggling.