Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Fianna Fáil Party supports the Bill which will implement six EU Council decisions agreed during the period from 2005 to 2010.

6 o’clock

These Council decisions allow for mutual assistance and recognition of legal actions arising from other member states in the Irish courts system. Effective co-operation between member states of the European Union and between states worldwide is of increased importance in the area of criminal justice. Organised criminal groups exploit modern phenomena such as globalisation, an increasingly border-free world and rapid technological advances in computers and communications. Organised criminals have become increasingly sophisticated and regularly use international networks to carry out their activities. Faced with this reality, organised crime can no longer be effectively tackled on a national level, and we welcome the fact that this legislation seeks to address these matters.

It has been stated that the opening of borders across the EU, in particular, after the Cold War, led to a rise in transnational criminal activity across Europe. Human trafficking, illegal immigration, drug trafficking and terrorism are all crimes that now operate beyond national boundaries, and it is not in the gift of any single jurisdiction or police force to tackle successfully these crimes. The first EU-level response to the issue of transnational crime in a substantive way occurred in the Maastricht treaty, creating the justice and home affairs policy at an EU level. Recognising the sensitivities and differences across Europe's criminal justice systems across our many jurisdictions, this policy was placed under the remit of the European Council. This designated asylum policy and immigration, as well as judicial, customs and police co-operation, as "areas of common interest". As we are all aware, the Treaty of Amsterdam went further, giving EU institutions full control over some areas of justice and home affairs policy, such as asylum and immigration.

The Treaty of Amsterdam also brought the Schengen Convention into EU law, which has served as an impetus for further co-operation on justice and home affairs matters. The Tampere European Council of 1999 established supranational bodies such as the European Judicial Network, EJN, and Eurojust to help tackle cross-border crime. In December 2001, EU leaders agreed to create a European arrest warrant and in 2006, a European evidence warrant was also approved. The Lisbon treaty of 2007 extended the EU power on justice and home affairs issues further because it gave the European Court of Justice jurisdiction over the sector for the first time and renamed the policy area "justice, freedom and security". As a continent, we have come a long way from the early days of co-operation in the justice field. This must be welcomed, given the increasingly globalised world in which we live.

Current legislation surrounding mutual assistance at an EU level is to be found in the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008. It was stated during the Second Stage debate of that legislation in the Dáil:

Mutual legal assistance, in simple terms, enables one state to provide, within its jurisdiction, a service to another state related to the administration of justice in the latter. The type of assistance may concern such matters as the investigation of serious international crime, including the gathering of evidence for use abroad or the service of documents issued by a judicial authority.

Due to the passing into law of that Bill at that time, any country may make a request to Ireland for legal assistance in criminal investigations or criminal proceedings. Part 7 of the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008 includes provisions that allow Ireland to take evidence in connection with criminal investigations or proceedings in another country; search for and seize material on behalf of another country; provide mutual assistance in relation to revenue offences; serve a summons or any other court process on a person in Ireland to appear as a defendant or as a witness in another country; serve a document recording a court decision on a person in Ireland; enforce, in Ireland, confiscation and forfeiture orders made in another country; and transfer a person imprisoned in Ireland to another country to give evidence in criminal proceedings there, to be identified there or to assist proceedings there. These are important provisions granted to our justice system and to the justice systems across the Union and beyond in order to combat transnational crime.

The European Union is a zone of free movement of goods, services, capital and people. Along with those freedoms come responsibilities. There is a responsibility on member states and the Union as a whole to ensure that with the opening of borders, transnational agreements can be put in place to allow for the increased opportunities that are gained through open borders but also to deal with the challenges that inevitably arise. I understand from previous information provided to this House that in 2013 Ireland made 200 requests for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. Of these, 129 were transmitted to other member states of the EU and 71 were transmitted to other countries. In the same year, Ireland received 583 requests for assistance, of which 516were received from within the EU and 67 were received from outside the EU. This is a significant number and demonstrates the importance of this legislation in certain cases.

We believe this legislation builds on the existing legislative framework for mutual legal assistance and seeks to address the challenges brought about by the EU's Internal Market. It provides for the effective co-operation between member states of the European Union and between states worldwide. We welcome the fact that the Bill will finally give effect to Council decision 2006/783/JHA of 6 October 2006, on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to confiscation orders; Council framework decision 2005/214/JHA of 24 February 2005 on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to financial penalties; Council decision 2008/617/JHA of 23 June 2008 on the improvement of co-operation between special intervention units of the member states of the European Union in crisis situations; Council decision 2009/426/JHA of 16 December 2008 on the strengthening of Eurojust and amending decision 2002/187/JHA, setting up Eurojust with a view to reinforcing the fight against serious crime; Council decision 2010/616/EU of 7 October 2010 on the conclusion of the agreement between the European Union and Japan on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters; and a Council decision to enhance the procedural rights of persons and fostering the application of the principle of mutual recognition to decisions rendered in the absence of the person concerned at the trial.

By harmonising the recognition of decisions made by courts across the EU within a common legal framework, member states will be better equipped to tackle cross-border crime within the Union. We believe that domestic legislation creating this mutual recognition is preferable to EU-level laws with direct effect. This is particularly important due to the significant variants through member states' criminal justice systems, yet this framework recognises that EU criminals do not have regard for member states borders and see them as a means to escape or delay detection.

As organised crime and terrorism become more sophisticated, it is essential that every technique and support is given to police across the Union to enable them to apprehend and bring to justice those responsible. In the modern world, our justice systems are dealing with extraordinarily sophisticated communications, financial networks and ease of transport from one jurisdiction to another. If crime is becoming globalised, our systems must also globalise the means of fighting it. However, it is important the resources are provided to the courts and the Garda to implement this Bill. The Fianna Fáil Party's first priority in justice is to ensure that An Garda Síochána has the necessary membership and technology to provide a first-class police service. As such, Fianna Fáil is committed to increasing the Garda numbers to 14,000 and maintaining them at this level, as this is the optimum level of gardaí required to ensure our communities can live in safety and security across Ireland.

If we consider the Government's record in this area, there is a lot left to be desired. Garda numbers are down by approximately 1,500 in four years; 139 Garda stations have been closed by Fine Gael and Labour in government; and our main prisons are overcrowded, with the Fine Gael revolving door having returned. On 15 June 2015, there were 489 prisoners, or 11% of the total, on temporary release across the prison system. Thousands of court summons and bench warrants remain outstanding, undermining our criminal justice system, and we have had a record number of inquiries to investigate malpractice in justice; with one resulting in the resignation of the former Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter.

While we accept that the current Minister is seeking to clean up the mess left by the previous one, we are still waiting for the independent review mechanism to give details of its conclusions and we are still awaiting the establishment of a fully functioning independent Garda authority. We also have yet to see a Secretary General appointed to the Department of Justice and Equality. I am sure the Minister will agree with me when I say that these areas need to find a conclusion sooner rather than later. In any case, my party and I are happy to support this Bill. It is our hope that this legislation will go some way towards enabling the State to globalise our fight against crime through co-operation with other EU member states and beyond.

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