Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and the joint committee for agreeing to take the motion today. We want to do this, if possible, before 24 November. The motions concerns a proposed opt-in regulation of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a European Union agency for law enforcement training would be very helpful to An Garda Síochána.

CEPOL is a European Union agency established in 2005. Its goal is to bring together senior police officers from police forces in Europe, essentially to support the development of a network and encourage cross-border co-operation in public security, law and order and the fight against crime by organising training activities and research. Ireland participates in the existing Council decision on CEPOL. An Garda Síochána is an active contributor in a variety of ways to the work of CEPOL; in fact, it plays a central role in organising courses.

CEPOL is a virtual college which organises between 80 and 100 courses, online seminars and conferences on topics relevant to police forces throughout Europe. The implementation of the activities is organised by national course managers and normally takes place in the national police training colleges of the EU member states. The operating budget is €8.45 million which is spread over three pillars, namely, staffing, infrastructure and operational costs.

There are 34 full-time staff who were based in the United Kingdom but are now based in Budapest. Work is ongoing to decide what the long-term future of CEPOL will be. The Justice and Home Affairs Council of Ministers voted to move the seat to Hungary in October 2013.

CEPOL is a very cost-effective way of upskilling members of An Garda Síochána in critical policing areas in times of restricted budgets, but it also offers a diversity of training courses for police officers in areas in which they may not have a national skills base. This is very important. There may be emerging areas or areas in which specific training is necessary for police officers. It could be cyber crime, dismantling illicit laboratories or other such areas in which it would be very helpful to have a European and an international context for working together.

I attended the international Interpol conference recently for one day and one could see where that kind of cross-border work, the sharing of information and upskilling on an ongoing basis was ever more necessary because crime did not stop in its methods. Criminals are constantly upskilling in the way they commit crime, which is most obvious on the Internet. CEPOL provides an opportunity to bring together those skilled in this variety of areas.

There is a grant agreement system that allows people to attend. This year 47 courses were attended by members of An Garda Síochána. Members can see that it is a useful resource in the areas of cyber crime and urban violence. Another area at which they have looked is trafficking in human beings. The courses facilitate a very wide range of topics to be considered by police officers. There are also bilateral exchanges. The topics covered are ones that have been identified as priority areas. Each year member states apply for a grant agreement which is highly sought after. Therefore, An Garda Síochána, with other police forces, has to try to win the tender to undertake courses. It contributes 5% towards the cost of running courses.

The Garda College has been involved in the running of CEPOL courses since CEPOL was established. There is a senior management programme which I am happy to say has been hosted by the college in Templemore in recent years. It is a flagship programme and quite an amount of expertise has been developed by the college in the topics covered by the course. The programme lasts for a full year and is organised in four one-week modules in four member states, from which members can see its complexity. The final module of the course will be held in December in Templemore.

This is a proposal for a regulation which the Commission has produced with a view to enhancing the operational mandate and reforming governance in line with general principles laid down in the Lisbon treaty. The general aim of the proposal is to "improve EU security through the implementation, by CEPOL, of a new training approach for EU law enforcement officers, consistent with evolving priorities for operational law enforcement and co-operation". It is putting governance on a stronger footing. Obviously, the motion will pass through the Dáil and the Seanad.

I do not believe there are difficulties or implications arising from the regulation from an Irish perspective and recommend the motion to the committee. There are certain governance principles, in line with those laid down in the common approach to EU decentralised agencies, and I am recommending that we exercise our discretion to opt in to the measure.