Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2017
244. Deputy Declan Breathnach asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the cross-Border crime agency; the number of staff involved and agencies engaged; the annual budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54151/17]
View answerI take it that the Deputy is referring to the Joint Agency Task Force which is led by police and revenue services in Ireland and the Northern Ireland and brings together the relevant law enforcement agencies in both jurisdictions to better co-ordinate strategic and operational actions against cross-border organised crime. It involves senior officers from An Garda Síochána, the PSNI, the Revenue Commissioners and HM Revenue and Customs; it also includes the Criminal Assets Bureau and UK National Crime Agency (who have the primary role in criminal assets recovery) as well as other appropriate law enforcement services (such as environmental protection agencies and immigration services) when required by the operations of the Task Force. The establishment of the Joint Agency Task Force was a commitment of the Irish and British Governments in the 2015 Fresh Start Agreement and the Task Force has been operational since early 2016.
The Joint Agency Task Force consists of a Strategic Oversight Group which identifies and manages the strategic priorities for combatting cross-jurisdictional organised crime and an Operations Co-ordination Group which co-ordinates joint operations and directs the necessary multi-agency resources for those operations.
As the Joint Agency Task Force is a multi-agency coordination structure is does not have a defined staffing complement or budget. Personnel from the participating agencies in both jurisdictions are assigned for specific operations. Similarly, budget resources are deployed from the various elements of an Garda Síochána, the Criminal Assets Bureau and other agencies as necessary for particular operational requirements.
I am very satisfied with the operation of the Joint Agency Task Force in the two years since its inception. There have, for example, been specific operations targeting rural crime, child sexual exploitation and human trafficking for labour exploitation that have resulted in a number of arrests, the seizure of stolen vehicles, equipment and other goods, cash and drugs and the identification by the Revenue services of unregistered business interests. In respect of rural crime, there was also a specific focus on awareness-raising and providing crime prevention advice at community level on both sides of the border.
The Joint Agency Task Force is just one example of the extensive co-operation that is undertaken between police and criminal justice agencies in the State and in Northern Ireland. I commend the work of all of the agencies involved in combatting cross-border criminal activity.
