Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I recognise that this is a difficult issue and I must be careful in what I say. I expected the type of response he has given. As stated, the issues fall between a number of Departments. The crux of the matter is that individuals are able to pay large sums of money, whether €70,000 or €80,000 for a site or much more for a house, and can, in effect, go to their solicitor or whatever representative is acting on their behalf and make a financial transaction far in excess of their means.

In this State, it is very difficult for us to track or trace where people are acquiring sites, land or buildings when they clearly do not have the means to do so in a legal way. It is worth examining this either through the Department of Justice or elsewhere.

The Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, only has the resources to deal with so much, but it is quite clear what certain criminals are doing. They are purchasing land and hiding money - effectively money laundering. Any of these are subject to investigation. They are doing their best to hide the resources they have in the hope that when their investigation with CAB concludes they can go back on their merry way and carry on with their illicit activity or whatever the case may be. This has come to our attention on a number of occasions in Cork. Deputy Gould and I have met people who are affected by this. I hope that in the coming months when CAB does its investigation, these people will be held to account. The matter merits further scrutiny by government.

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