FG/Labour want tougher approach to drug-dealers

Opposition parties have called on the Government to adopt a tougher approach to drug-dealers and violent criminals in the wake of a significant rise in drug crime and the murder rate last year.

Fine Gael said that the 2007 crime figures underlined the need for convicted murderers to serve 25 years in prison and for those imprisoned for gangland crimes to lose remission.

The party's justice spokesman, Charlie Flanagan TD, said that "headline crime" had now increased for the third year in a row, reaching levels not seen since 2002. The value of life was falling as gangland criminals gained strength. While drug seizures were increasing, the hauls found by gardaí represented only about 10 per cent of the total drugs trade. "I am repeating my call for 24-hour monitoring by gardaí of serious criminals, in particular so-called drugs barons," he said. The Garda needed more resources to increase surveillance.

Services for drug-users were currently "overwhelmed" and further investment was also needed in that area.

Labour's spokesman on justice, Pat Rabbitte TD, said that the rise of 6.1 per cent in headline crime in the last quarter of last year was "particularly dramatic". He was most concerned about the increased murder rate and the rise in recorded drug crime.

It was time the Government accepted that its approach to the drugs trade was not working. "At local level we need to re-establish links between the gardaí and local communities. Despite the proven success of community policing, just 565 gardaí - about 4 per cent of the force - are allocated to this area."