Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2017
286. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will report on the establishment of an economic crime bureau centre as outlined in the An Garda Síochána modernisation and renewal programme 2016 to 2021; the estimated full year cost of such a centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31057/17]
View answerLast July, the Government approved a Five Year Reform and High Level Workforce Plan for An Garda Síochána which combines the Government’s response to the Garda Inspectorate report 'Changing Policing in Ireland' and the commitments in the Programme for a Partnership Government aimed at increasing the visibility, effectiveness and responsiveness of An Garda Síochána. The Government agreed that the Garda Commissioner's Modernisation and Renewal Programme (MRP) 2016-2021 would be the vehicle for implementation of the Inspectorate recommendations aimed at the Garda organisation. In support of this plan, Budget 2017 provided funding to continue to expand the number of Gardaí towards 15,000, to double the Reserve to 2,000 and to double the number of civilians to 4,000 by 2021. In addition, the plan is supported by substantial capital investment of some €310 million in critical ICT infrastructure, the fleet and other Garda facilities.
Robust independent oversight is essential to ensuring that the pursuit of the reform programme is relentless over the next 5 years. To ensure that this is case, the 240 agreed recommendations of 'Changing Policing in Ireland' have been referred to the Policing Authority to monitor and assess their implementation by An Garda Síochána and to report progress to me on a quarterly basis. The first two progress reports from the Authority, received in January and April, have been published on my Department's website.
It is the most ambitious programme of reform ever embarked on by the organisation and due to the scale of the programme, a phased planning approach is essential. In this regard the Commissioner has advised that some initiatives will be implemented in the short to medium term, while others will require a number of years to implement fully.
In relation to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (formerly the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation), I am informed that this was established on 1 September 2016.
The Bureau has dedicated expert staff, including professional forensic accountants, to address white collar and other fraud and economic crimes, and includes the restructured Garda Cyber Crime Bureau, the Money-laundering Investigation Unit and a new Foreign Bribery and Corruption Unit.
I am informed that Garda management within the Bureau are working with local Garda management, at District and Divisional levels, to ensure the necessary tools and training are provided to enable and empower District and Divisional resources to investigate cases of economic crime at that level, with advice and guidance available from within the Bureau. The Bureau is now also placing a greater emphasis on ensuring that economic crime of lesser amounts that are currently reported to the Bureau are assessed and transmitted to District Officers for investigation, with more complex cases, routinely involving significant amounts, being investigated by the Bureau. The additional staff including forensic accountants assigned to the Bureau has facilitated the Bureau in providing greater expertise and assistance to Divisional and District personnel in "following the money" when investigating organised criminality in order to identify the proceeds of crime.
In addition, I understand new software has been developed and provided to the Financial Intelligence Unit in order to process Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR) provided, pursuant to relevant legislation, by ‘designated persons’, including financial institutions and certain professions. The software was developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and provides the benefit of secure transactions; a reduction in administration costs; the ability to monitor reports, analyse and assess crime trends being reported through the STR process.
Senior management continue to review the needs of the Bureau to enable it to fully realise to the aims of the MRP and to ensure that An Garda Síochána maximises it capability to investigate emerging forms of economic crime.
It is not possible, at this stage of development, to estimate the total costs associated with the complete roll-out of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.
