Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil will support the Bill, and I compliment Deputy Maloney for bringing it to the floor of the Dáil. I apologise for any interruptions; I assure the House it was not intended to be disrespectful.

We should never forget the original 1996 Act came about after the heinous murder of Veronica Guerin, a brave journalist, when the Government was spurred into bringing forward legislation. It has served the State well in trying to combat the criminal elements doing untold damage to communities and willing to challenge the State at the very highest levels with force. The Minister of State is now responsible for combatting the nefarious drug trade. The huge proceeds these criminal elements can gain from illegal activities such as this is an indication we must consistently look at our laws, and the provisions and support given to An Garda Síochána and other arms of the State, to combat the criminal elements who are becoming more sophisticated. They are also becoming more affluent through the amount of proceeds of crime they have available to invest in their criminal empires. The Bill would assist in combatting this. Many of the major criminal gangs have huge resources available through the drugs trade, fuel laundering and tobacco smuggling. They are internationalised as they import weapons and drugs, tobacco and many other products. This trickles down to the smaller criminals. The end result is always a victim, and there are many victims of the drugs trade on a daily basis. We must address it.

I will deviate from Deputy Maloney's Bill to speak about the need for us to take a bottom-up approach to community policing. Reference was made to policing, and our commitment to community policing has weakened. This is not meant to be an overtly political point as I am speaking in general terms. The force is stretched and is under huge pressure. We must target the sophisticated criminal elements. The loss of community police throughout the country is something we will soon regret.

Last night I attended an awards ceremony for volunteers in Mayfield in Cork where I saw very healthy interaction, knowledge and mutual respect between An Garda Síochána and the community through community policing. The Minister of State is trying to combat drug abuse by criminal elements in communities, and community policing would be a big loss in this regard. Some of the community police officers were honoured last night, and I am sure this is replicated in many communities throughout the country. We must target the sophisticated criminal elements but not lose sight of the basic principle of having An Garda Síochána in our communities for the communities.

The Bill merits much consideration. Reference was made to Barry Galvin, the original legal officer to the Criminal Assets Bureau. At the time of that debate, the Seychelles were referenced as they used to advertise as a place where one could bring one's money and nobody would ever be able to trace it. A major concern at the time was that money was being channelled out of the country and huge sums were being lodged abroad and laundered back into the country to continue and fund criminal behaviour.

After the decommissioning of the IRA's terrorist campaign in the North there has been a drift of some elements into criminality at a very high level. We must not forget they were quite comfortable in confronting An Garda Síochána at a previous time and I am quite definite they would have no difficulty in confronting it in the context of their new nefarious activities. For all of these reasons the State must support An Garda Síochána. The State must defend itself and, more importantly, it must support the communities devastated because of this activity.

I am not sure whether Deputy Maloney will call a vote on the Bill but we will support it in whatever way we can. I wish the Minister of State well on his appointment. I criticised the Government for not taking more decisive action in appointing a Minister of State with special responsibility for drugs, implementing the drugs strategy and bringing forward a new strategy. Debate will start on this very soon which is very welcome. If we accept the amounts of money and the value of drugs seized on a continual basis are only the tip of the iceberg, what comes into the country and hits the streets is significant. For this reason any legislation which will undermine the ability of criminals to fund their empires and their ability to launder money and bring it back into circulation as respectable money is something we will support.

I was interested to hear the Minister of State say a review will be carried out by an expert group under the auspices of the Department of Justice and Equality.

That the group is looking at that is welcome. However, as always, these gangs are becoming more sophisticated. They respond rapidly to changing environments and are internationalised. They have huge resources and can evade the clutches of states. This is not only an issue for our Criminal Assets Bureau; there needs to be a pan-European effort to address these problems, including what is happening in the Mediterranean where people are being smuggled across borders and being abandoned at sea. This is not being done by individuals but by large trafficking gangs. We see it in the area of prostitution where women are trafficked across borders. All of that is done by very sophisticated criminal gangs. Any Irish legislation or pan-European or international provisions should be welcomed. I have often said the European Union has free movement of goods, people and services, as fundamental principles of the Treaty of Rome, but there must also be protections for European citizens and those who are trafficked into Europe for exploitation. At times, we are a bit weak in that area as evidenced by what is happening on the southern borders of the European Union and the Mediterranean. All in all, I wish the Minister of State well and thank Deputy Eamonn Maloney for brining this interesting Bill to the Dáil.

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