Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 April 2024
24. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice the extent to which she continues to provide adequate resources to enable An Garda Síochána to adequately police organised crime; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17776/24]
View answerTackling serious and organised crime is a key priority for me as Minister for Justice and I am committed to ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs to ensure communities around Ireland are safe and feel safe.
This is reflected in the unprecedented allocation of over €2.35 billion in Budget 2024. The record budgetary resources allocated to An Garda Síochána in recent years have enabled the Garda Commissioner to assign extra resources to the specialist units involved in tackling organised crime, including the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Armed Support Unit and the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB). Since 2015, over €345m in drugs have been seized by the Gardaí.
An Garda Síochána remains resolute in its determination to act against those engaged in organised crime. Cooperation with international law enforcement agencies remains a key element of the Garda response in view of the global nature of organised crime and the drugs trade, with Gardaí working closely with relevant law enforcement agencies such as INTERPOL and Europol to target drug trafficking.
Tackling drug dealing and associated criminal activity, including by organised crime groups and by members of the public who, through their drug-taking fuel this illegal and very harmful trade, is a top priority for An Garda Síochána and the Government.
An Garda Síochána continues to target those involved in street-level drug dealing across the country and also focuses on disrupting and dismantling the drug trafficking networks that impact on our communities and prosecuting those involved at every level through Operation Tara.
Last December, I received Government approval to open extradition and mutual legal assistance negotiations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is important that criminals see there can be no hiding place from the law, and that the State will do everything in its power to bring those who spread misery in our communities to justice.
The Government is committed to taking a number of direct actions to tackle organised criminal groups, including by:
• Increasing the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder from 10 years to life in prison to tackle those who direct organised and drug related crime;
• New legislation has been introduced which criminalises the grooming of children into a life of crime;
• Supporting the roll-out of Greentown, a pilot programme which is seeking to break the link between the gangs and the children they try to recruit.
