Mr. Drew Harris:

The response, which lies in co-ordination with our national economic crime bureau, is one where we have invested heavily in fraud investigation and fraud investigators throughout the country in every division. Where I would look to the insurance industry in terms of support is in respect of the information it is able to provide us with.

Regarding the offer of assistance, which, in effect, was to form a national squad, we would do better if we looked to the information we had and were able to apply analytical expertise to that. It involves analysts in terms of trying to find the patterns of offending, individuals and vehicles and what the motor insurance industry can do in respect of that. I know there are other forms of insurance fraud beyond the car accident industry that are also significant crimes in terms of the money lost by insurance companies.

In respect of motor insurance, I point to our investigation management system. As we roll this out, we will have greater insight into all the investigations that members of An Garda Síochána take on. This will include road traffic collisions that are being investigated and will tell us about people and vehicles that are exceptionally unlucky and are constantly in accidents. That sort of information will give us the starting point for more thorough investigations. It should be borne in mind that we can also apply tactics from the Criminal Assets Bureau to this. We have a localised element to the CAB that we are seeking to promote. It is not that this is not a priority or that we are seeking to in any way down play it. I just feel that tactically, our response must be somewhat different from having a squad in the centre. This is about information, understanding and analysis of that information and driving lessons from that, which gives us information to start proactive investigations. We have set this out on a number of occasions. The chief superintendent in charge of the economic crime bureau regularly meets with the insurance industry and set out this case to it.