Electronic tagging and tracking of criminals should be used to tackle “marauding gangs” who are using the motorway system to travel into rural Ireland to commit crime, Independent TD Mattie McGrath has said. “Tagging of people out on bail, repeat offenders, is, I’m told, available in this State since 2007, but has never been used,” McGrath said.
Electronic tagging and tracking of criminals should be used to tackle “marauding gangs” who are using the motorway system to travel into rural Ireland to commit crime, Independent TD Mattie McGrath has said.
“Tagging of people out on bail, repeat offenders, is, I’m told, available in this State since 2007, but has never been used,” McGrath said.
“We need to fight these horrific thugs, these marauding gangsters on the ground with more than just gardaí. We need to be smart and as IT smart as they are.”
The Tipperary TD described British badger tracking technology where “a whole county could be monitored by one man in a room with computer screens”.
Gangs
McGrath referenced the recent case in Roscrea in which 94-year-old Jimmy Campion and his wife Maura were attacked by burglars and the 2013 case in Killenaule where Mark and Emma Corcoran and their three young children were terrorised by a Dublin gang.
“They are coming from Dublin, not all of them, but they are coming down the motorway in an hour and a half and flying in and they must be tackled. They should be on camera and watched as they come on and off the motorway and trace them,” said McGrath.
“And when they go to court, they can’t be allowed to get multiple free legal aid,” he added.
“I’m strong on this. It should be three strikes and you’re out when it comes to free legal aid.”
McGrath was speaking at a community alert meeting which addressed crime prevention and loneliness.
Read more
Keeping cash in the house is rewarding travelling gangs – Garda warning
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: