Vol. 419 No. 3
2 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Justice if he will outline the nature of our involvement in Europol and the new measures being put in force to ensure full security is maintained in relation to subversive activities following the ending of border frontiers at the end of 1992.
The decision to establish a European Police Office (Europol) was taken by the European Council at its meeting in Maastricht on 9 and 10 December 1991 on the basis of a report submitted to the Council by TREVI Ministers. The European Council also decided that Europol's initial function will be to organise the exchange of information on drugs among the Community's 12 member states. The establishment of Europol is, of course, also envisaged by the Treaty on European Union. The Treaty and the Declaration on Police Co-operation it contains will provide the framework for the development on Europol in the years ahead.
At their Maastricht meeting the European Council instructed TREVI Ministers, in collaboration with the European Commission, to take the necessary steps to allow Europol to be set up at an early date. The detailed work necessary to achieve that objective is now proceeding within the TREVI framework. Both my Department and the Garda Síochána are participating fully in that work, as they did in the preparation of the report on which the decision to establish Europol was based. It is also my intention that Ireland will participate fully in Europol once it has been established.
Europol represent only one of a number of compensatory measures which are being considered at the level of the Twelve in the context of the creation of a Europe without internal frontiers. It has been recognised for some time now that international terrorism and organised crime will seek to exploit the opportunities offered by greater freedom of movement for ends inimical to the rights and freedoms of citizens of the Community at large. The Twelve have responded to that challenge by seeking to promote closer co-operation among their police forces within the TREVI framework. The programme of action on the re-inforcement of police co-operation to combat terrorism and other forms of organised crime, adopted by TREVI Ministers in Dublin in June 1990 during the Irish Presidency, has provided the framework in which a number of practical measures designed to reinforce and build on existing co-operation among the police forces of the Twelve have been agreed in the run up to the creation of the Single Market. Those measures include a number specifically directed at combatting terrorism. Compensatory measures of this kind are, of course, an integral part of the free movement issue.
The co-operation that is already taking place within the TREVI frame work will now be largely superseded by the new arrangements for co-operation in the field of justice and home affairs provided for in the Treaty on European Union. I am confident that, when adopted, the new framework for such co-operation which the Treaty provides will allow the development of even closer co-operation among the police forces of the Twelve in meeting the challenges which terrorism and organised crime pose for the Community as a whole.
When does the Minister envisage that Europol will actually be established?
It is hoped that the first phase of it will be up and running before the end of this year. At that stage we will build on the work that has already been undertaken by TREVI — that is the framework in connection with the establishment of the European drugs intelligence unit, for instance — and that will lead to the European drugs unit by the end of 1992. Its function will be the exchange and development of information and intelligence and there will also be considerable co-operation in the fight against drug trafficking.
The second phase will deal with money laundering and organised crime leading to drug trafficking. That will be a little later down the road.
Would the Minister agree that it is of vital interest to this State to ensure that Europol is functioning in the information area at the earliest available opportunity so as to ensure that the good work and the results that have been achieved in the arms finds in recent weeks is not set aside by the opening of borders resulting in further arms coming into this country at the hands of subversive organisations and will the Minister indicate if it is envisaged that Europol will go beyond simply information gathering and information sharing but will ultimately involve joint police action in the fight against subversion and terrorism and in tackling the drugs problem?
That is what is intended. There has been a declaration on police co-operation in this matter and this was much enhanced by the decisions taken in June 1990 here in Dublin. It is all about dealing with transnational crime, particularly drug trafficking. The declaration on that police co-operation is attached to the Treaty on Political Union and it is interesting to put on the record the type of functions that will be considered by Europol as it gets underway. Phase one will be up and running by the end of this year and later the other phases. It will be involved in support for national criminal investigations and security authorities, particularly in the co-ordination of investigation and search operations and the creation of data bases. There will be some interfacing between the information that will be available in the 12 members states, central analysis and assessment of information in order to take stock of the situation and identify investigative approaches and the collection and analysis of national prevention programmes for forwarding to member states and the drawing up of Europewide prevention stragegies. I think that particularly is what the Deputy would wish to see, that there would be cross-frontier strategies and measures relating to training, research, forensic matters and criminal records departments in all of the 12 countries. All of that would be on a shared basis.
Could the Minister indicate whether the location of the Europol office itself has yet been decided? In which of the European countries or capitals will it be established? Could the Minister indicate if it is intended that each of the police forces of the member states will second people to Europol itself and what direct involvement would the Garda have in that? Finally, the Minister should be aware that there is substantial and growing concern about Ireland being used as an open door to Europe in the context of drug importation by sea through the southern part of this country, resulting in drugs going into the United Kingdom and then into the European mainland. Does the Minister envisage Europol being involved in attacking that problem? Will he agree that it is matter of urgency to deal with this problem and the growing worries in this regard?
I do not have any information concerning the possible location of Europol but, as I said, Ireland will be involved in all aspects of setting up this body. We would like to be in at the start for the reasons the Deputy mentioned. Obviously, the movement of drugs and drug trafficking will be at the top of the agenda in so far as the initial stage in phase I of Europol is concerned. They are being set up to allow co-operation and exchange of information which will enable us to tackle the problem more effectively, particularly drug trafficking by sea.
