Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has raised a point of importance. We had the opportunity to engage in some debate on it in my previous capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, when Deputy Brendan Smith was foreign affairs spokesman and, more recently, in his capacity as Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade. This is an issue in terms of cross-Border crime, the matter of smuggling, racketeering and all sorts of criminal activity, including environmental crime. It was the subject of a discussion I had this very morning with the Garda Commissioner. The Commissioner assured me that co-operation between An Garda Síochána and the Police Service of Northern Ireland is at its highest ever. Of course, I am keen that this co-operation would continue. It is producing the type of dividend that I know Deputy Brendan Smith would like to see along the Border, particularly in his own constituency of Cavan-Monaghan.

One consequence of the failure to reach agreement on the matter of the Northern talks is that we are unable to have a meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council. I am unable to liaise with a counterpart Minister in Northern Ireland because of the absence of a working Executive there. I assure the Deputy that I will continue to raise issues of Border crime and cross-Border crime with the Garda Commissioner and, indeed, at every level.

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