Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach did not answer the specific question I asked about the establishment of a British-Irish joint agency to deal with the widespread racketeering, organised crime and smuggling that has been going on for far too long. The report is very clear that members of these paramilitary groups - the UVF, UDA, Provisional IRA and others - continue to engage in violent activity directed by local leadership and conducted without sanction. Violence and intimidation are used to exercise control at a community level. We know this because after the murder of Paul Quinn, not one person came forward. After the murder of Robert McCartney, no one came forward despite the presence of so many people in a public house. Why is that? It is because control is exercised in a very brutal way. That is not acceptable 17 years after the Good Friday Agreement, and something needs to change. I put it to the Taoiseach that the Provisional IRA army council still exists despite all the denials we have had. The investigation into the murder of Kevin McGuigan is ongoing, but it is judged that the assessment put forward by the chief constable in his public statement on 22 August remains accurate. It also says that all of the groups have committed murders since 1998. As we know, no one came forward and no one was prosecuted or convicted.

There is a problem here, and both Governments, particularly ours, took their eyes off the ball. I am told that in the last three to four years the intelligence capacity of An Garda Síochána with regard to what is going on along the Border and cross-Border area is not as strong as it should be. It is under-resourced and not up to speed. There is a sense that these groups have been allowed to act with impunity. There are individuals ruling the roost in these areas on a continuing basis and there is a well-established organised criminal network involving individual members of paramilitary groups. There is a twilight zone there that we cannot get at. People might not like my saying that, and they may nod their heads, but that is the reality and it is what the report is saying. I put it to the Taoiseach that a joint body, as recommended by the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly some time ago, is needed. That body said more determined action was required North and South of the Border to eliminate the activities of organised crime gangs involved in cross-Border illicit trading, including the establishment of a permanent full-time multidisciplinary task force. Our own parliamentarians from Britain and Ireland are saying that something of that order is required. Will the Taoiseach agree to doing that? Deputy Brendan Smith has published a fuel laundering Bill and is calling for such legislation. Will the Taoiseach give consideration to that at a later stage?

See this speech in context