Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the committee. I share her view on value of the system of investigations into violent activity, criminal activity, drugs crimes, human trafficking and the exploitation of under-aged children. However, I have a concern about an issue, which has arisen again recently, namely, the trust between the security services in different countries. I saw a programme on BBC1 last night which showed that the PSNI had a major lack of trust and confidence in the intelligence service in the North. That is in a divided community where they are trying build to trust in the relationship between the police force and the local community, and the Nationalist community in particular. I have a concern about elements of security services in Europe and other countries having PNR data, and many people share that concern.

I do not know if the Minister of State is familiar with Anne Cadwallader's book, Lethal Allies, which deals with the issue of collusion, an issue the joint committee covered at the time of the investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. There was an issue of trust and confidence involved there. The reason I raise this issue is that there are elements within the security forces about which many of us have concerns; their track record in terms of people's rights has let us down. Does the Minister of State have those concerns? She hinted at this when she said that when one has this type of information, it must be treated respectfully and there can be no violation of human rights. The reality is that some people have major concerns about some of the data in respect of individuals that is being shared. There is a lack of confidence and trust in certain aspects of security services.