Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Mattie McGrath looks very at home in the Ceann Comhairle's chair. It is good to see him there.

It is a pleasure and an honour to greet Deputy Browne as Minister of State. I am delighted he is sitting in the front benches of Government to lead proceedings. I wholeheartedly support this important Bill. It strengthens and offers protection against money laundering. The Bill gives effect to the criminal justice provisions of the fifth EU money laundering directive and deals with new forms of money laundering, including virtual currencies.

I note that the Irish State was recently fined €2 million by the European Court of Justice for not transposing the fourth EU directive. It is vital that we pass this Bill without too much delay so that we do not expose the State to further financial penalties.

Earlier this week, An Garda Síochána gave a very timely warning that money laundering is alive and well in Ireland. We have long known about drug mules, but we now have a new phraseology around money mules, many of whom are very young people, including teenagers, who are very vulnerable and are laundering virtual currency for major criminals. There is a need to beef up the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, section of An Garda Síochána. It is an important arm of the Garda and is helping to take down large criminal gangs and strip them of their ill-gotten wealth.

About four years ago during the tenure of the then Minister, Frances Fitzgerald MEP, the term "mini-CAB" was bandied about. This became a second tier of CAB and targeted smaller criminals operating at a more local level. Its work is excellent, but more can and should be done. Of course, this will require the Department of Justice and Equality to better resource CAB.

There is one in every village and housing estate in Ireland. We all know the guy who has no visible source of income, but lives a very impressive and lavish lifestyle in a luxury house, with several foreign holidays a year and a brand new fancy car. He lives way beyond his means. The neighbours whisper about him. They describe cars pulling up late at night, a revolving door of visitors and small packages passed through hands. His lifestyle and actions need to be investigated. CAB must have the capacity to delve deeper into this guy's lifestyle and, more importantly, his source of income. We owe it to the very decent people of Ireland to take down the village drug dealer, that is, the guy who operates in our local housing estates and villages.

We have an unprecedented number of people in every county vying for social housing for their families. Some of these people have been on housing waiting lists for upwards of ten years. The wait and uncertainty that brings is very cruel and every housing applicant understandably believes his or her circumstances carry a higher need than others. For as long as I can remember, housing applicants have been Garda vetted. The process takes time and can be very frustrating, but it is an essential component in knowing more about an individual and family who is moving into an area, and knowing that they are of good standing and not engaged in criminality. It offers a lot of comfort and reassurance to the existing tenants of the council.

At some point, we need to consider some form of retrospective Garda vetting. An individual may get the keys to a house on the basis of having an unblemished record, but what if he or she turns to criminality such as dealing drugs in an estate or becoming a loan shark in a community of vulnerable families? If a person goes down this route, he or she has in a way nullified and obliterated the clean record he or she once had. Such a person's entitlement to housing should be reviewed. In many cases, such people should be made to hand back their keys. Why should a criminal hold on to his or her council house and deny a decent family the right to a home? Why should a criminal be allowed to hold residency on a nice street? His or her presence on a nice street is malignant. Getting more kids hooked on drugs is his or her business model. Such people should be evicted and left to their own devices.

As we progress through the decade of centenaries, it is vital that the Government considers fully outlawing the wearing of paramilitary uniforms by dissidents on our streets. Our country has one Army and one Army only. It wears the national uniform of our Defence Forces with pride and dignity. The men and women who wear sunglasses, black berets, green jumpers and combat boots on our streets dishonour our Permanent Defence Force.

They dishonour people like Lyra McKee and the many people who have been victims of republican paramilitarism. I hope the legislation progresses without any delay and that the Minister of State and his departmental staff will also look at the other mechanisms required to dismantle criminality further and to stand up for the decent people of Ireland.

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