Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 2 Apr 1996

Vol. 463 No. 6

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers - Drug Related Crime.

Michael McDowell

Question:

12 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Minister for Justice the outcome of a recent review which has been completed in her Department into levels of existing co-operation between the Garda and the Revenue Commissioners with a view to tackling drug related organised crime; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7213/96]

The Government decided that a review by the Garda and the Revenue Commissioners of certain recommendations made by the Law Reform Commission as regards co-operation between the two bodies be carried out. Senior officers of the Revenue and gardaí have met over recent months and discussed arrangements for improved co-operation on the drugs problem and other serious crime in the context of the Law Reform Commission recommendations. The joint review by both agencies has been completed and the outcome of the review will be submitted to Government shortly.

Will the Minister confirm that co-operation between the Garda and the Customs and Excise on the drugs issue was not satisfactory heretofore? Will she confirm that the drugs landed at Castletownbere last November and seized at Urlingford were landed without the agreement of the Customs and Excise service? Will she also confirm that the suggestions made in some media to the effect that Customs and Excise had compromised their operation by revealing the details to the media are wholly false and malicious and without any foundation in fact?

The Revenue Commissioners and the Garda co-operate on a number of fronts and at a number of levels to tackle crime and confiscate the proceeds of crime. Section 19 of the Finance Act, 1983, gives power to the Revenue Commissioners to assess for income tax purposes any profits which arise from an unlawful or unknown source. The Garda are in a position from time to time to supply information to the Revenue Commissioners to pursue such assessment.

Section 63 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1994, provides that the Garda can seek a court order requiring a body such as the Revenue Commissioners to disclose material where the Garda have reasonable suspicions about drug trafficking, money laundering etc. More generally, the Criminal Justice Act, 1994, provides that applications for confiscation orders against persons convicted on indictment of drug trafficking offences and non drug trafficking offences may be made by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

With regard to the Deputy's further questions about the position on drugs landed at Castletownbere, this is subject to ongoing investigations. In accordance with precedents set in the House by former Minister for Justice it would be inappropriate for me to enter into any details about an ongoing Garda investigation.

I asked the Minister to confirm to the House that the drugs landed by the Garda at Castletownbere were landed without any co-operation by the Customs and Excise section of the Revenue Commissioners and that the suggestion that the operation had been compromised by a leak from this section to the media was wholly false and malicious and without any foundation in fact. I repeat my questions to the Minister because I ask her to confirm that it is wrong, and was wrong, for anybody to suggest to the media that the "Urlingford drugs seizure" was in any way compromised by officers of Customs and Excise, that her departmental secretary confirmed as much to the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners and gave evidence to that effect to the Committee of Public Accounts?

The Deputy is making a speech at Question Time.

Will the Minister confirm that what I have said is true and that there was no co-operation of any material kind between the Garda and the Customs and Excise service with regard to that so called seizure which turned out to be a fiasco?

What is now known as the Urlingford drugs seizure is the subject of ongoing Garda investigations spanning not just this but other countries. I do not intend to jeopardise this investigation and I ask other Deputies not to do so in order that it may be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

I did not speak to any newspapers about who or what may have been involved in the seizure of drugs. I cannot answer the Deputy's question as to whether anybody made an allegation that something was jeopardised. I am aware the Minister for Finance answered an inquiry by the Deputy about the role of the Revenue Commissioners in this seizure. If he has more questions about the Revenue Commissioners he can ask the Minister for Finance.

Our time for priority questions is now exhausted. We may take the remaining two questions in the category of ordinary questions.

Top
Share