Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. All Members have received reports of people having been intimidated by well known criminals. There are also reports of threatening behaviour, property being vandalised and even assaults. It is not just the individuals involved who bear the brunt of this force and thuggery. Their neighbours also live in fear lest the wrong address is given and the perpetrators end up vandalising an adjoining property or assaulting a neighbour. It is a very worrying aspect of the new debt collection industry. There is an increasing number of reports that criminals, as well as the eastern European mafia, are getting involved in it.

There is a need for urgent action to protect vulnerable debtors from threatening behaviour and worse by some debt collectors, first, by vetting prospective debt collectors, licensing them and their operations and providing for a complaint mechanism for debtors and, second, by identifying those entering the country who are planning to sell their skills in threatening behaviour, vandalism and assault. A Europol report last year described Ireland as a highly attractive destination country for criminal gangs involved in crime and the smuggling of immigrants. It highlighted the urgent need for proper border control systems and co-ordination between the Garda Síochána and its colleague forces throughout the European Union. There must also be co-ordination in this country between the various Departments involved.

While the right of EU citizens to travel within the Union must be protected, we must also stamp out cross-border crime. This must involve stronger co-operation and the sharing of information between EU police forces through Europol and within the country among the agencies of the State. There is no central EU database for criminal convictions. We believe all member states should maintain a national DNA database and share the information with other member states. However, the Government has failed to establish such a database. Once operational, it could prove a key factor in improving conviction rates for serious crime. The sharing of such information must become commonplace to improve border controls. A criminal database must be accessible across jurisdictions to ensure all information is available for the policing of borders.

It is also important to have an integrated border management system which includes both the Garda Síochána and the social welfare system. They must be given adequate resources to screen people coming into the country and record those who are leaving. There is an urgent need for greater co-operation between the various agencies of the State. Our ports, for example, are also seen as a soft touch with regard to immigration checks and Garda screening. There have been numerous reports of individuals coming to our ports because our immigration checks there are scant. People with serious convictions in other parts of Europe are using them as a way to enter the country. Many officials working in this area and in the area of the trafficking of human beings say our ports, including the port of Larne and, as a result, the border with Northern Ireland are seen as soft options for entering this jurisdiction or moving on to the United Kingdom. It is vital to have co-ordination between the agencies in this jurisdiction and across Europe.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs which is involved in meeting people when they arrive in the country must have a more proactive approach in conjunction with the Garda on the information collated for issuing PPS numbers. Under the current system, it is relatively easy for migrants who are sought in other countries on criminal charges to obtain a PPS number from the Department of Social and Family Affairs. The required technology and training must be put in place to ensure PPS numbers are denied to persons using false documentation or those who are being sought for serious criminal offences in other countries. Surely there can be greater co-ordination, whereby if the Garda does not identify a person at our ports or airports or if a person comes across our unpoliced border with Northern Ireland, the social welfare system could be used as a safety net to identify these individuals and ensure they are brought to the attention of the Garda.

The social welfare system, even with the limited technology currently available to it, has identified people using false documentation to obtain a PPS number. Citizens of the State or persons from outside the State who use false documentation to obtain a PPS number are doing so to exploit some part of the system. It is not in our interests that such activity should continue. It is a weakness within the current system. The Bill proposed by Deputy Charles Flanagan would act as a safety net in regard to this particular industry through the licensing of people who are working or seek to work within the system.

It is important that we get our act together at European level regarding the co-ordination and sharing of information, but it is also imperative that we get our act together in this State. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has spoken about the introduction of an Irish border information system. This proposal is long on promises and short on delivery. There is a major problem in regard to communication between the Garda and the criminal justice system, on the one hand, and the Minister on the other in identifying individuals who are citizens of the European Union and who potentially represent a threat to public policy or public security in this jurisdiction. There must be a formal mechanism of exchange between the Garda and the Department on the criminal activity of such individuals. The courts must be empowered to refer specific cases to the Department where the judge, in the process of sentencing, has identified an individual who should be brought to the attention of the Minister. Discretion must ultimately rest with the latter as to how such information should be acted upon. These matters must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

That type of information co-ordination and communication is not currently being provided. Different arms of the State are collecting information but not communicating that information to each other. As a result, there is no identification of individuals, whether citizens of this State, citizens of the European Union or otherwise, who should be brought to the attention of the Minister and potentially removed from the State. There is no formal system whereby the Garda or border control officials convey information on Irish citizens to the Department of Social and Family Affairs where such information should rightly be brought to its attention. That type of information sharing is not happening.

This legislation provides an additional safety net in identifying those persons who are slipping with ease through our current border check system. As a positive step forward, I am disappointed that the Government proposes to reject it. I commend the Bill to the House.

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