Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I will quickly answer both questions. While I regard the hotline to which Deputy O'Brien refers as very important, I have great difficulty at the moment committing funding for anything for next year because were I to do so and having agreed to make a commitment on this issue, the next question I would be asked would be why I would not agree to commit to something else. Deputy O'Brien can be assured that I am very conscious of the hotline's importance.

On Deputy Calleary's question, I have previously stated that we are reviewing the legislation on the Criminal Assets Bureau to see if there is some tweaking or are some changes that could usefully be made to it that would assist generally in the work that is done and would be of particular relevance to the activity of drug trading and the criminal gangs engaged in it. If we bring forward amending legislation, I do not expect we will be in a position to do so until early next year. I am certainly conscious of this area.

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