The Minister for Justice has allocated an extra €2 million to fight gang crime and is considering changing the laws of evidence in criminal trials in response to the dramatic collapse of the murder trial of a Limerick man on Monday.
A key State witness in the trial of Mr Liam Keane (19) was assaulted last Friday on his way to court by friends of Mr Eric Leamy, the man Mr Keane was accused of killing. The witness, Mr Roy Behan, did not turn up in court on Friday.
It was his denial on Monday that he had identified Mr Keane as Mr Leamy's killer that led the court to tell Mr Keane he was free to go.
As opposition parties demanded a Government reaction to what Mr Enda Kenny described in the Dáil as the "intimidation of witnesses" by criminal gangs, Mr McDowell said he was considering a change in the law to allow a witness statement given to police in advance of a trial to be considered by the jury, even when the witness refuses to stand over the statement during the trial itself.
Currently in Ireland, such statements could not be admitted in evidence if the witness did not support them in court.
However, the Canadian Supreme Court, which had a similar criminal justice system to Ireland's, had recently allowed such statements, he said.
The Taoiseach said there were people who were "trying to put it up to the Government and to the people. We must and will take action against this".
The Central Criminal Court was told last Friday, in the absence of the jury, that Mr Behan had failed to appear in the court after he had been assaulted at a Limerick train station as he was beginning his trip to Dublin.
The Irish Times has established that Mr Behan, who was a friend of Mr Leamy's and carried his coffin at his funeral, was struck a number of times by a small group who were also friends of the dead man.
It is understood the group of Mr Leamy's associates were unhappy at the way the trial was unfolding in Dublin and went to the station to warn Mr Behan to co-operate fully with the court.
When Mr Behan gave his evidence on Monday he denied telling gardaí, in a signed statement of August 28th, 2001, that he had witnessed Mr Keane sticking a knife into Mr Leamy's side.
He was the sixth prosecution witness in the trial to deny making such statements identifying Mr Keane.
Mr McDowell yesterday responded to a series of special Dáil questions concerning the case. He briefed the Cabinet at length on the issue yesterday before announcing the extra funding and the possible legal changes.
He said that "because of careful management during the year within Justice . . .", he was now in a position to authorise an extra €2 million to be spent on targeted Garda operations against gang crime.
These operations would not be confined to Limerick, he said.
Mr McDowell said that, while the events were unprecedented, it would be disproportionate because of difficulties in one particular case to suggest that the system has suddenly collapsed and that the constitutional and legal basis of [the criminal justice system] had been discredited.
Meanwhile the Oireachtas Committee on Justice agreed last night to invite representatives from the Courts Service, the Legal Aid Board, the Bar Council, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Human Rights Commission, the Law Society of Ireland, the Garda Síochána and the Minister for Justice.
Key witness was attacked by victim's friends; Warrant issued after Keane fails to appear: page 7
Predicament created by Keane case requires more than hasty responses: page 16