Mr. Mark Toland:

Cyber-crime is an emerging threat. Cyber-security is an issue, certainly, across the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. There is no cyber-crime unit but that does not mean the Garda does not have skilled investigators. There are some staff who are very skilled in forensic analysis of computers, laptops and technology, but what we recommend is that a specific unit be created and that these skills be developed so that they are ready for a growing number of cases. Some of the cases are complex because part of the issue is in trying to work out the jurisdiction where the crime took place. The computer crime investigation unit represents the Garda's forensic capacity in terms of cyber-crime at present, but just putting more people into that unit has not helped to deal with the backlog. We have recommended - there is an acknowledgement that the Garda will probably accept this - that some of these resources be taken out of Dublin and put into a new Garda regional structure. If an investigator in Kerry seizes some IT equipment and needs to have it examined forensically, it has to be driven all the way to Dublin to be examined, and that is a waste of everybody's time. We suggest putting those resources much closer to the investigators, taking them out to operations and not bringing in as much technological equipment as they are seizing at present.

Currently investigators have a dilemma when they go to an address. They think it better to seize equipment just in case it contains evidence. If we took some of the specialist units out on those sorts of operations, they would not be seizing the level of equipment seized at the moment. When we examined it, there was a four year backlog and some of the cases were dismissed in court for abuse of process because of the time taken, which is unsatisfactory for everyone concerned.

Other jurisdictions are putting their cyber-crime capacity into their serious and organised crime units. We are trying to create multi-disciplined teams so that a team is not just dealing with cyber-crime but also human trafficking, prostitution, organised crime and drugs because the people involved operate across three or four crime profiles.

To reassure the committee, I have found very talented investigators, in particular in the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, but they are in the wrong place. We are recommending the creation of a new unit that has the necessary modern technology, which is certainly needed. The unit also needs to be structured so that it can deal with the volume of suspicious transactions and reports of cyber-crime it is getting.