Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My party will be supporting the speedy passage of this Bill, which is of great importance in the fight against criminality, both domestic and international. The Bill updates legislation passed in 2010 which transposed EU directives and UN conventions into Irish law. The aim of the Bill is to combat the efforts of criminals and their associates to conceal the origin of the proceeds of criminal activity or to channel money into terrorist activity. In light of the ongoing threats from dissident republicans and criminals across the country, the need to tackle money-laundering is of particular importance in this country. Criminal activity, including diesel laundering, racketeering and illegal tobacco sales, undertaken by a rump republican movement continues to present a serious threat to law and order in this State.

In conjunction with this Bill, gardaí must be better resourced in meeting this threat.

The Bill extends and clarifies the criteria laid out in the original Fianna Fáil Bill from 2010. A key element in the legislation is the application of customer due diligence, CDD, or measures on the part of the designated persons covered by the Bill, which include requirements to identify the customer and any beneficial owner and verify that identity. The CDD measures involved include identification and verification of customers and the monitoring of transactions and services. There are also obligations to report suspicions of money laundering to An Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners, and to ensure that there are specific procedures and policies in place to reduce the risks of money laundering. The Bill directly touches upon sums of money being shifted through under-regulated private member gaming clubs and tightens oversight to these potential avenues for laundering. It has been well known for years that gambling and gaming has been an area where money has been laundered, with casinos and on and off-course betting venues being used. We must consider that in a broader context.

These measures will ensure that Ireland is fully compliant with its EU and UN obligations to tackle the scourge of money laundering and adapt changes based on the experience of operating the system since 2010. The ongoing serious criminal dissident republican activity is being fuelled by illicit funding through a number of revenues, such as the aforementioned illegal tobacco sales and the washing of diesel to be sold at a cost to the State. Unfortunately, the violent death of prison officer David Black and the bloody gangland feud in Dublin are the direct result of this financing, leading to a very detrimental effect on our international reputation, which is important in attracting foreign direct investment and securing much-needed employment. Anything that hampers our competitiveness and the view of the international community must be met head on, with gardaí having the resources to do so.

The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 transposed the Third Money Laundering Directive 2005/60/EC and its implementing directive, 2006/70/EC, into law. It also gives effect to certain recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force, FATF, and the international anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing body, which was established by G7 countries. The Act consolidates Ireland's existing anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws, which until then had been contained mainly in the Criminal Justice Act 1994. Significant reform has been required since in order to catch up with modern practices used by international criminal communities.

The Act increases the obligation on a wide range of designated persons, including credit and financial institution personnel, lawyers, accountants, estate agents, trust and company service providers, tax advisers and other with regard to money laundering and terrorist financing. That should be welcomed and we have seen over the years the operations of the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, with the offices of very professional people raided and documents seized in pursuing the ill-gotten proceeds of crime.

There is criminality associated with dissident republican activity and it is noteworthy that it has been mentioned by the US State Department, as we have mentioned to the Minister before. Its report on terrorist financing cited the major role of tobacco sales for laundering purposes and specifically mentions the role of the Real IRA. It is indicated that "the production, smuggling and sale of tobacco products, including genuine and counterfeit cigarettes, is a lucrative form of financing for organised crime, as well as terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Real Irish Republican Army". The CAB, which is the multi-agency body staffed from the taxation areas, Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Protection, as well an Garda Síochána, must play a central role in identifying money laundering activities and assets from groups such as the Real IRA and the newly emerged IRA alliance of dissident groups. These criminals and dissident republicans have been waging a campaign of violence against the people of Ireland that is funded by a series of money laundering processes, turning illicit funds to the purpose of fuelling terrorism.

Unfortunately, we have seen these activities spilling to the streets of our country, particularly in Dublin, which puts our country and capital in a bad light internationally. We must take every measure to fight this, and I am sure when this legislation is enacted it will go some distance to targeting the individuals who are damaging the image of our country by killing, maiming and robbing people and the Exchequer. In that way they are robbing every citizen in the country.

The Minister mentioned that he intends to introduce some amendments to widen the scope of the Bill, which is to be welcomed. The Minister mentioned the events in Boston, where it was reported that the communications network was shut down to avoid further bombs being detonated by remote telephone technology or mobile telephone. It would be a welcome move to introduce that here. We must consider other aspects as well, including the use of smartphones and other telephone technology by the prison population. Unfortunately, people manage to smuggle telephones into our prisons and recent court reports indicate that drug dealing is being done from prison cells, with people brought before the courts as a result. I was recently made aware of a disturbing case with a person serving a sentence and with a number of serious charges, including murder, before him, had been corresponding with people on Facebook. It is obvious that this individual has a smartphone available to him while he is in prison. We must use the opportunity presented here to consider the issue and put legislation in place allowing telephone companies to block signals in certain parts of prisons. We should avoid, as much as possible, leaving an opportunity for people in prison to operate telephones smuggled into the facilities.

With regard to the Bill's wider context, the Minister is aware that Retail Ireland has put a value of crime associated with all illegal activities around the country. It is not my figure or that of my party. It takes in digital piracy, illegal tobacco, counterfeit goods such as clothing and medicines, drugs and illegal diesel.

These cost the Exchequer and society in the order of €850 million per annum. Any crude cost-benefit analysis will show that if we invest more in State agencies such as the Revenue and the Garda Síochána, we will make inroads into that figure of almost €1 billion that is being taken out of the economy each year by criminals. By investing resources in State agencies, the figure will be dented and there will be a positive return for the country and the Exchequer.

The Minister mentioned the Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners. It was disappointing to hear the Minister announce yesterday that he would not now bring a proposal to Cabinet to recommence recruitment and training, as he had indicated at the AGSI conference. We have debated this many times. The force currently stands at 13,300. If the retirements continue at the current rate, we will be in a critical situation. The new roster is structured around a minimum complement in the force of 13,000 at a minimum. If numbers fall below that, we are into the serious situation where the roster is unworkable. The Minister knows the lead-in time for getting new recruits through the application, screening and interview processes and that training takes a long time, up to 18 months. When we factor that into the numbers leaving the force, we are heading for a dangerous situation.

This shows the Government did not have a plan B in the event of the Croke Park II agreement not being ratified. For Garda recruitment and training, there must be a plan A and a plan B as soon as possible. Connecting Garda recruitment to the agreement was not satisfactory given gardaí are tasked with the security of the State and if the numbers fall below the critical level, the security of the State is at risk.

I have raised this with the Minister before. He ran a recruitment campaign for the Defence Forces recently, with 600 new entrants joining. People ask me why there is recruitment into the Defence Forces but not into the Garda Síochána. I urge the Minister not to perform a U-turn on the announcement he made at the conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors. It is high time recruitment recommenced, particularly given the importance of the role played by gardaí across the State, the importance of the fight against serious criminality, and the loss to the Exchequer resulting from that criminal activity of almost €1 billion per annum. I urge the Minister and his colleagues to rethink the recruitment campaign into the Garda Síochána outside of the context of the Croke Park Agreement.

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