No early release for drug dealers

DRUG traffickers convicted of offences under comprehensive new
legislation to be published by Justice Minister John O'Donoghue within
the next month will be refused temporary release from jail.

The bill will spearhead a new drive by the Government against drug
barons at home and abroad and is intended as a signal to the
international traffickers that Ireland cannot be regarded as a safe
haven.

The minister said yesterday that the Criminal Justice Bill 1997 would
exemplify the Government's zero tolerance approach to serious crime and
particular drug dealing offences and he wanted to ensure that
traffickers served their time behind bars and would not be let out
early.

He told Galway Chamber of Commerce he proposed legislative changes to
"increase the State's armoury to bring down the racketeer. Our society
can never tolerate a state of affairs in which so many of our children
have their lives permanently blighted and destroyed by this evil trade.

"Zero tolerance is the only answer to such evil and deserves the full
support of the community. It is a proactive concept and it would be
regrettable if we wasted time and energy trivialising it."

Next month's bill will contain proposals for a minimum 10year sentence
for drug trafficking and will empower the courts to order inquiries into
the assets of the convicted person.

Following a detailed examination of assets, the court will then be able
to impose financial penalties on top of any action taken separately by
the Criminal Assets Bureau.

"The message we want to send out to organised crime bosses and their
gangs is that we will hit them with whatever weapons are at our disposal
and we will take away their liberty and their assets.''

He said the garda investigation into the murder of journalist Veronica
Guerin last summer and other crimes involving that gang had been a
watershed and was the beginning of a very serious clampdown on organised
crime.

Ireland's involvement in the Europol effort to tackle international
crime in a more coordinated way also meant that criminals wanted here
could not flee abroad to escape the authorities.

"The net is closing in on the crime bosses and we have every intention
of ensuring that the net will never be open again."

The minister called on the business community to play their role by
developing and financing more onstreet closed circuit TV systems and
contributing management expertise to running crime prevention projects
such as the youth diversion programme.