I can assure the Deputy that tackling organised crime activity is a key ongoing priority for both the Government and An Garda Síochána.
An Garda Síochána's Policing Plan sets out the priorities of An Garda Síochána in tackling organised crime activity together with its continued commitment to pro-actively target groups and individuals engaged in criminal activity, including organised criminal activities.
The challenges presented by gangland crime over the past two years have necessitated investment in the specialist units to enhance their capacity to support the fight against this type of crime. Accordingly, I am advised by the Commissioner that almost 125 extra Gardaí were assigned to the specialist units within Special Crime Operations in 2017 and to date in 2018. In addition, a dedicated Armed Support Unit for the DMR was established at the end of 2016 in order to enhance armed support capability in Dublin and to free up the resources of the Emergency Response Unit.
The capacity of Garda management to allocate additional resources to specialist units is a result of the significant investment in personnel to which the Government is committed under its Five Year Reform and High Level Workforce Plan for An Garda Síochána.
Also, in tackling such activity, An Garda Síochána continues to develop and implement operations and strategies aimed at targeting, dismantling and disrupting criminal networks, utilising advanced analytical and intelligence methodologies. Multi-disciplinary approaches are also employed to ensure the activities of individuals and groups involved in criminal enterprise are effectively targeted, including through the use of the Proceeds of Crime legislation, money-laundering legislation, the provisions of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009 relating to organised crime and the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau.
While we should not underestimate the difficulties which the Garda authorities face in tackling organised crime activity, we continue to see the significant results of their efforts in the arrests made and persons being brought before the Courts, as well as the ongoing drugs and firearms seizures made.
Given the fluid nature of such criminal groupings it is extremely difficult to quantify the number of criminal gangs operating at a particular time. Splinter groups and new gangs can form overnight. Organised Crime is constantly evolving and new innovations in crime are continuously emerging.
From time to time the question has arisen of providing for an offence of membership of a criminal gang in a manner similar to the approach taken in the Offences Against the State Acts with regard to membership of a proscribed organisation.
In this regard, it is important to understand the issues which arise in seeking to simply outlaw membership of a criminal gang in such a manner. Most significant is the fact that a criminal gang is not likely to have a similar permanency of organisation and structure that might pertain to a typical subversive organisation or other more fixed group. Similarly, relationships in criminal gangs tend to be more fluid with shifting memberships and alliances and a given individual's affiliation with a criminal network might itself be entirely contingent, contextual and ephemeral.
However, criminal legislation has been updated in recent years, with a view to ensuring that it provides a comprehensive range of provisions for the prosecution and punishment of crime, in particular the activities of those involved in organised crime.
