David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. I welcome this Bill, which is very important. I note the role of Europol is to improve the effectiveness of and co-operation between law enforcement authorities in member states in preventing and combating serious crimes affecting two or more member states. The Minister said in his speech that this is on foot of a Council decision. I also note that it enhances the role of the European Parliament in the control of Europol, which introduces more democratic accountability, which I welcome.

I note the list of crimes under the remit of Europol. The Minister has listed a number of them and there are many others as well, such as illegal trafficking of cultural goods; swindling; fraud; racketeering; extortion; counterfeiting; product piracy; computer crime; corruption; illicit trafficking in arms, endangered animal species and plant species; environmental crime; and illicit trafficking in hormonal substances.

I had a meeting this morning with Françoise Le Bail, Director-General for Justice at the European Commission, and her main focus, in which the Deputy from Sinn Féin would be interested if he were present, is the extent of reform of the EU data protection regime and the protection of the citizen. The Deputy from Sinn Féin rightly raised the issue of data protection, but what I am hearing from the European end is that it is also very concerned about reforming the data protection regime and bringing it up to date.

I know some Members were interested in cyber-crime. Project 2020, which is a study of by the International Cyber Security Protection Alliance and led by Europol, will analyse current trends in cyber-crime and how they may evolve over the next eight years and beyond. The past two years have seen the industrialisation of cyber-crime, which is frightening. Criminals can draw on an entire supporting infrastructure of criminal service providers from web hosting to generating credit card verification data. There is more information about all of us on the world wide web than ever before. We have also seen a sharp increase in targeted cyber attacks, which is known as spear fishing. During the past 24 months, critical infrastructure in countries around the world has been under daily cyber attack from organised criminal networks and state-sponsored entities.

This means the role of agencies such as Interpol is even more critical. There are organised, serious criminal industries making a lot of money from cyber-crime. We must not be blind to the problem or turn our backs. We must be very careful and ensure there is co-operation across member states. If two or more member states are involved, Europol can have a role.

Last year, at least €600 million was lost to the European Union through fraud alone. This is possibly only the tip of the iceberg. It is important, therefore, that we combat cyber-crime.

I welcome the Government's commitment to introduce the criminal justice (forensic evidence and DNA database system) Bill to establish a DNA database. I hope it will be published before Christmas. It will be important in fighting crime. It is referred to in the Bill before us and that is why I raise the matter.

The objective is to make Europe safer. Members who raised this subject are correct that there is a need for us to work towards striking a balance between ensuring the rights of citizens and their safety. There is a very strong data protection regime in Europol. The Minister stated this and I welcome the content of his speech in this regard. The data protection officer whose formal role will be established under the Council decision will be independent under the legislation. This is important.

Data is to be deleted where it relates to a case where proceedings have definitely been dropped or where a person is acquitted. This relates to what the Director-General for Justice is proposing regarding the right to ensure data can be forgotten. The right to be forgotten is being proposed by the Commission. This is intended to help individuals to control online personal data and thereby reduce the risk that data posted during teenage years could have unintended and detrimental consequences later in life.

The thrust of the legislation is to protect the individual from unauthorised data use and minimise the amount of data on the Internet and, above all, ensure it is secure. Recently, Interpol has warned us that the trade in counterfeit agricultural chemicals is growing in Europe. This trade is driven by rising input costs and is facilitated by experienced organised criminals. Europol has stated that low risk, high profit margins in the illegal pesticides market have attracted criminal gangs and have given rise to circumstances in which an estimated 25% of pesticides in circulation are believed to have come from illegal sources. The agency said the trade exists throughout Europe and suggested the use of banned or counterfeit chemicals could have serious health and ecological implications. This is another matter on which Europol is working.

In the past two nights, we debated drug and alcohol abuse. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said that a powder combination of ecstasy and the amphetamine PMMA found in Cork last month may be the first of its kind in Europe. Previously, reports referred only to tablets. There is now talk of an early warning system for new substances, using information provided by Europol.

Europol was set up in 1995 and is now to be established on a more formal footing. There is to be more democratic control. It is an important agency and, therefore, I support the Bill. During the Private Members' debate in the Chamber yesterday, I expressed my concern that much good work is being done on drugs and alcohol by the various agencies in this State but that the Oireachtas could do more. I suggested that we consider establishing a parliamentary committee whose sole task would be to focus on drug and alcohol abuse in the State. This would cut across all the agencies and committees. The committee, chaired by Deputy Buttimer, produced a very good report on alcohol abuse and other committees are doing similar work, but they are all fragmented and all in their own silos. As a Parliament, we need to bring the work together because the drug threat is one of the largest we are facing nationally and internationally. We should consider my suggestion to try to deal with this. I am thankful for having had the opportunity to speak.

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