Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Minister is correct in assuming that every Member of this House agrees these are appalling crimes and that our sympathy is with the victims and their families. However, is he not concerned that so-called tiger kidnappings are on the increase and is it not reasonable to presume that the very large sums of money garnered in some of these incidents are used for the financing of more serious crime, such as drugs trafficking and firearms purchases?

Each time a tiger kidnapping takes place, the Minister issues strong warnings to the financial institutions and those who are responsible but little else seems to be done between one incident and the next. Too frequently, we have seen similar incidents occur shortly after the lessons were supposed to have been learned. Is he satisfied from his discussions with the senior executives of the financial institutions that they are taking the matter as seriously as they should in the interests of their staff and combatting crime? The man and woman on the street have reservations about whether the fine words are being translated into action.

See this speech in context