Amid the political charge and counter charge now swirling around in the debate on crime, it is easy to lose sight of one salient point; ten days after the murder of Veronica Guerin there is little optimism in Garda circles that those responsible for her death will be apprehended.
The same grim ritual which has attended every one of the 12 gangland assassinations in Dublin this year is being played out the Garda say that they know the identity of the killers but no charges have been preferred. The honest citizens of this State are being forced to endure the grotesque spectacle of these criminals remaining at liberty and beyond the grasp of this State's hugely expensive criminal justice system.
Ten days after the murder of Veronica Guerin, the political system has also reverted to type. The strong resolution to confront organised crime - so evident in the immediate aftermath of her murder has already been dissipated by political bickering. The Government and Opposition parties cannot even agree on the precise scope of new laws to freeze the assets of criminals, despite extensive publicity in the past week about the accumulated wealth and the lavish lifestyles of several leading criminal figures.
The Coalition itself is in disarray on the crime issue. There is no agreement on the cost and scale of the Government's anti crime package. There is only a very fragile agreement on the changes required in the criminal law. And there is a lack of leadership and direction. The fact that the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, found it necessary to issue a lengthy statement on Thursday to clarify aspects of the Government's package, unveiled two days earlier, speaks volumes.
There is a great deal of work to be done to lift the criminal justice system out of its present morass. This newspaper has long supported a commission to examine how each element of the system - the Garda, the courts, the prisons and the probation service - relates to the other. The Garda Commissioner, Mr Culligan, was correct to point out that his force is but one element of the criminal justice system. In doing so he was merely spelling out what every senior officer and every lawyer will tell you; the criminal justice system is one seamless garment in which each element relates closely to the next. The case for a commission to identify the long term objectives and priorities of our criminal justice system has rarely been stronger.
There is also much which can be done in the short term. The main task of the Government's efficiency review of the Garda - in itself a welcome development - must be to examine the investigative capacity of the force. It is abundantly clear that the drug trafficking problem has not been given the resources and the degree of attention that it deserves. A situation in which less than 100 members of the force are dedicated anti drugs officers is intolerable.
A decisive move to seize the assets of criminals is also overdue. The Government could resolve any perceived problems attaching to Fianna Fail's bill by placing an amendment on the issue before the people alongside the proposed changes in the bail laws in next November's referendum.
The confused response of the political system to the crime debate will not inspire confidence that any such decisive action will be taken. There has been a great deal of platitudes but little to suggest that the political system will muster the strength to mount a root and branch review of the criminal justice system. The life and work of Veronica Guerin so movingly described by her husband, Graham, on RTE radio yesterday deserves a better legacy.