Darren O'Rourke
Question:163. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Justice the number of additional gardaí that have been trained as divisional asset profilers in 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form. [15223/22]
View answerWednesday, 23 March 2022
Questions (163)
Written answers
As the Deputy will be aware, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) is a multi-agency statutory body established under the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996. The Bureau’s remit is to target a person's assets, wherever situated, which derive, or are suspected to derive, directly or indirectly, from criminal conduct. Since its inception, the Bureau has been at the forefront of fighting organised crime in this jurisdiction and disrupting the activities of criminal gangs by depriving them of ill-gotten assets.
The Bureau is widely regarded as a best practice model in the context of combating organised crime. It works closely with law enforcement bodies at national and international levels and continues to relentlessly pursue the illicit proceeds of organised crime activity. The actions of the Bureau send a strong message to criminals and to local communities that profiting from crime will not be tolerated.
The Criminal Assets Bureau Strategic Plan for 2020 – 2023 describes the structure of CAB and its key programmes of activity to deliver its remit. CAB has trained a nationwide network of Asset Profilers to identify assets acquired from the proceeds of criminal conduct. The Bureau continues to develop specialist expertise and technology to trace and investigate these assets. It also continues to work closely with international crime investigation agencies, and has successfully targeted proceeds of foreign criminality from countries such as the US and the UK.
There are 552 trained Divisional Asset Profilers which comprise of 527 Gardaí, 17 Revenue & Customs and 8 Social Protection Divisional Asset Profilers operating nationwide.
I am advised that during 2021, the Criminal Assets Bureau delivered online training to an additional 100 Gardaí. A further training course to an additional 30 Gardaí is scheduled to take place on 24 March 2022.