Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

He also asked about the level of work being done on the new legislation and I understand there may be other legislative requirements in the short term which would certainly postpone that for some time.

Deputy Costello also indicated that there has been long-standing agreement on the need for co-operation. He mentioned the important "Prime Time Investigates" programme on the trafficking of human beings and the concerns which have been raised about the exploitation of women and girls in the context of the World Cup and, indeed, in a range of contexts which really stand to be addressed, perhaps partly through some of the provisions of this and, indeed, through other provisions. Member states, he contended, will not know whether information can be protected and whether it might be used for political purposes. Notwithstanding the findings of the Morris tribunal, he said — I agree strongly — that the Garda Síochána has a good record in general terms. There are, he claims, some question marks about the reliability of law enforcement agencies in other countries and, in common with other Members, he raised the question of how confident we can be that confidentiality can be guaranteed, but it is fair to say the provisions to which I referred in Articles 9 and 10 address these concerns.

He also asked from where the pressure to bring forward these provisions might be coming. As I stated in my opening remarks, they came to some to extent from the Madrid bombings and the subsequent proposals by Sweden in that regard. Ultimately, there is agreement on all sides of the House that we are committed to ensuring the best possible provisions are in place to cover a range of circumstances, which we all know arise quite frequently in criminal justice matters. These include co-operation in combating drug-trafficking, money-laundering, organised crime, trafficking in persons, terrorism and a number of other serious offences. I think we have agreement in that regard.

I understand that Deputy Costello believes the current dispensations are sufficient, but that clearly is not the case in that in general quite a number of the current provisions involve bilateral or multilateral agreements and this provides agreement across all the EU states.

Deputy Ó Snodaigh made a number of points about the Hague programme of 2005, and has concerns about how far-reaching it might be and what he sees as a lack of safeguards. In the particular instance with which we are dealing here, however, the provisions are much more limited than are some of the other proposed provisions on available information which are at an early stage of consideration. He was also concerned about the lack of safeguards, particularly in the use of incorrect or out of date information. Clearly, it would be a matter for the individual police authorities, including our own, to ensure information is updated and corrected when that is required.

Deputy Finian McGrath was of the view that co-operation should be based on trust and that there are moral and ethical questions — of course there are. The European Union has been a strong force for advancing the human rights debate and right across the Union, including the western European states, the impact of initiatives at European level has in general been positive in advancing social provision and the rights of the individual. Clearly, it is a project which cannot be completed overnight but on which work is ongoing. He pointed out that some states have a good record and perhaps others have less so. I point out that Colombia is not one of the states involved in this particular instance.

Deputy Cuffe also has a sense of unease about the protection of the individual. He mentioned a number of cases and that in some instances information has arrived to him and to others through the media rather than through the relevant more appropriate channel. He mentioned a range of criminal justice issues including data protection which are also dealt with in Articles 9 and 10, and he made a general point about the war on terror. Nevertheless, as members of the European Union it is equally as much in our interests as citizens of Ireland as it is in our interests as citizens of Europe that there would be a high level of co-operation which would be under-pinned and guaranteed by the best possible provisions at European level. I commend the draft framework to the House.

See this speech in context