Tackling serious and organised crime is a key priority for me as Minister for Justice. Crime is a global enterprise for many organised crime gangs and some individuals cross borders in an attempt to evade justice.
Serious and organised crime does not respect international borders, and Ireland is working closely with other States to fight organised crime and bring criminals to justice. The challenges we face are by definition transnational, and Ireland welcomes all efforts to develop a joined-up EU approach to confront them.
I was glad to receive Government approval this week to open extradition and mutual legal assistance negotiations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is important that criminals see there can be no hiding place from the law, and that the State will do everything in its power to bring those who spread misery in our communities to justice.
The Government is committed to taking a number of direct actions to tackle organised criminal groups, including by:
• Increasing the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder from 10 years to life in prison to tackle those who direct organised and drug related crime;
• Introducing new legislation which will criminalise the grooming of children into a life of crime;
• Supporting the roll-out of Greentown, a pilot programme which is seeking to break the link between the gangs and the children they try to recruit.
• Cooperation with international law enforcement agencies remains a key element of the Garda response in view of the global nature of organised crime and the drugs trade, with Gardaí working closely with relevant law enforcement agencies such as INTERPOL and Europol to target drug trafficking.
• The Garda Liaison Officer Network has been expanded to several locations across the world. This has proven to be an effective and practical form of interagency cooperation between police services and has supported the exchange of information and the coordination of operations across borders.
• While we should not underestimate the difficulties the Gardaí face in tackling organised crime activity, we continue to see the significant results of its efforts in the arrests made and the people brought before the courts, both here and, importantly, in other jurisdictions, as well as the ongoing drugs and firearms seizures.
• The additional resources allocated to An Garda Síochána in recent years have enabled the Garda Commissioner to assign extra resources to the specialist units involved in tackling organised crime, including the Armed Support Unit, Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
• The Criminal Assets Bureau also continues to target the assets, wherever situated, of persons 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 Ireland, disrupting the activities of criminal gangs through the removal of their ill-gotten gains and has been recognised as a world leader in asset investigations, tracing and forfeiture.
