Written Answers. - Crime Prevention.
John Browne
Question:
83
Mr. Browne (Carlow-Kilkenny)
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the steps being taken to tackle organised crime and to bring before the courts the gangs currently responsible for organised crime.
[15106/01]
I would like to inform the Deputy that the policies I have implemented since I became Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform have resulted in a major crackdown on organised crime. Strong legislation specifically designed to target organised crime has been introduced, backed up by tough law enforcement measures. I have, for example, put in place the Criminal Justice Act, 1999, which provides for a minimum mandatory ten year prison sentence for persons convicted of dealing in drugs with a value of £10,000 or more. This Act has also introduced a range of new measures designed to prevent the intimidation of witnesses, jurors, those who are assisting the gardaí in the investigation of an offence and their families, and provides for a maximum ten year sentence for such offences.
The Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996, which I introduced while in Opposition, has been successfully utilised by the Criminal Assets Bureau to deprive those involved in criminal activity from enjoying the benefits of their ill-gotten gains. This legislation and the operations of the Criminal Assets Bureau have received much praise both at home and abroad.
On the law enforcement side, specialised Garda units such as the Criminal Assets Bureau, the Garda national drugs unit, the Garda bureau of fraud investigation and the national bureau of criminal investigation have been established to tackle organised crime, seize assets of organised criminals and bring them before the courts.
The successes of these units are well documented and I think it would be useful to refer briefly to them at this point. Since its statutory inception in October 1996 and up to 31 December 2000 the bureau has obtained section 2 interim orders on property to a total value of over £8 million and section 3 interlocutory orders on property to a total value of over £7 million, under the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996. During the same period the bureau demanded over £37 million in the payment of tax and interest from persons suspected of involvement in criminal activity and social welfare determinations and savings amounted to over £1.6 million.
From 1998 to 2000 seizures of illicit drugs amounted to an estimated street value of over £132 million and the money laundering investigation unit of the Garda bureau of fraud investigation received almost 4,500 suspicious transaction reports with a value of over £590 million. In addition, special measures such as the witness security programme have been developed in order to prevent criminals from intimidating those who assist the authorities in bringing criminals to justice and has been used successfully to date in organised crime investigations.
One of the difficulties facing all law enforcement agencies in their fight against organised crime is the fact that these criminal organisations are now operating at an international level and are flexible enough in their operations to take advantage of any new opportunities that may arise. Accordingly, the response to organised crime must be an international one.
Ireland participates fully in the fight against organised crime at both EU level and beyond. At EU level, a range of measures from the 1997 EU action plan on organised crime has been agreed, with the intention of improving co-operation between national law enforcement agencies in order to tackle international organised criminal groups more effectively. Following on from this action plan a new EU strategy for the prevention and control of organised crime for the beginning of the new millennium has been adopted. International agencies such as Europol and Interpol have an important role to play in dealing with international organised crime and the Garda is in regular contact with these agencies through the Garda liaison officers posted to Europol and Interpol headquarters.
In December 2000, I signed, subject to ratification, on behalf of Ireland, the United Nations Convention against transnational organised crime and two protocols to the convention: the protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in per sons, especially women and children and the protocol against smuggling of migrants by land, air and sea.
The legislative and law enforcement measures which have been introduced have been recognised as a major step forward in the fight against organised crime in Ireland and have resulted in the dismantling of major organised crime gangs and the imprisonment of a number of significant criminals.
I believe that our legislation is among the most effective in Europe when it comes to combating organised crime and this is in fact well recognised by our EU partners. However, that is not to say that there is any complacency on my behalf. In this context, I am constantly evaluating our response to organised crime and I can assure the Deputy that whatever steps are necessary will be taken to deal with the situation.
