Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

The Criminal Assets Bureau has been at the forefront of the fight against organised crime including drug trafficking in this jurisdiction since its inception in 1996. In that 11 year period the manner in which the bureau operates has come to be viewed, both domestically and internationally, as a successful model for targeting persons seeking to derive profits from criminal activities.

In recent days I took the occasion to discuss the Deputy's proposal with the Garda Commissioner at some length. He strongly advised me that there would not be an advantage to a structural reorganisation of the work of the Criminal Assets Bureau along a regional model, and he set out his reasons to me at some length.

On the Deputy's proposal for an expansion and restructuring of the CAB on a more local level focused on persons involved in drug crime, let me first respond by acknowledging the positive results being achieved by the current modus operandi of the bureau. Since its inception in 1996 up to 31 December 2005, which is the end date covered by the most recently produced CAB report, the bureau has obtained interim and final restraint orders to the value of over €58 million and €25 million, respectively. In the same period, taxes and interest demanded was almost €87 million, with almost €89 million collected. Regarding social welfare payments, savings amount to almost €2 million and recovery of overpayments amounted to over €1 million.

The assignment of specialist staff to the Criminal Assets Bureau from An Garda Síochána, the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social and Family Affairs, enables a multi-disciplinary, co-ordinated and integrated approach to the identification, freezing and seizure of criminal proceeds, the assessment and collection of unpaid taxes, and the recovery of social welfare overpayments. In addition, due to the unique nature of its work, the safety, protection and anonymity of the CAB staff is provided for by legislation.

On the possibility of dividing the CAB up regionally or such like, the Commissioner's arguments are briefly as follows. First, to have the relevant degree of professionalism and expertise, it is better to keep people at a central level so that they can interact with each other. Second, on the question of the anonymity of CAB personnel, if they were put in regional communities they would become much more easily identified, which is also a worry for the Commissioner. Third, he has recruited, at the suggestion of my Department, lay accountants who are centrally based and he has now received authority from my Department to recruit forensic analysts for the bureau. The idea, which he outlined and I accept, is that the CAB works better on a centralised basis where its quality is kept at a high level.

There is a danger that if there were a local scandal or if standards declined in one part of the country, the standards and integrity of whole of the Criminal Assets Bureau could be impugned. The director of the bureau is keen to ensure that no scandal attaches to the activity of the bureau and no accusation of impropriety or low standards ever applies, and therefore he wants to keep a firm grip on it to ensure adherence to high standards.

See this speech in context