Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire as ucht na horáide a thug sé inniu ar an Bhille. Tááthas orm a rá go bhfuil Fine Gael i bhfabhar an Bhille. I welcome the Minister to the House. There can be no doubt that mutual assistance between Ireland and other nations on matters of criminal justice is of vital and paramount importance in terms of our role in international co-operation. As a member of the international community and many international and governmental organisations from the United Nations to the European Union, we have a duty to ensure that the long arm of the law can reach across borders to catch those we all believe should be brought to face the rigours of justice.

While there must be controls and structures in place to do this, both to ensure that human rights and basic protections are respected and maintained, and to be certain that our own laws and constitutional provisions are respected, no one could claim that Ireland should not make every effort to contribute to international mutual assistance.

That is why, for example, when personal data is obtained under the convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters between the member states of the European Union, another country may only use this data for specific and limited functions, such as judicial or administrative proceedings covered by the convention and the prevention of an immediate and serious threat to public security. Otherwise, the data can only be used with the prior consent of the communicating member state or of the data subject. These protections and many more like them are very significant and important in securing the trustworthiness of these conventions. That is why Ireland is a proud signatory to the international agreements mentioned in this Bill.

I would like to speak briefly about the convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters between the member states of the European Union, to which I have already referred. The purpose of this convention is to encourage and modernise co-operation between judicial, police and customs authorities by supplementing the provisions and facilitating the application of a number of international agreements. Among them are the 1959 Council of Europe convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters and its 1978 protocol, the 1990 convention applying the Schengen agreement and the Benelux treaty of 1962.

The convention establishes the conditions under which mutual assistance between EU member states is granted. If Ireland asks Germany for assistance, Germany must comply with the formalities and procedures indicated by us. The convention does not place any importance on the largesse of a country or its political or military clout. As with the basic principles of the EU, each member state is equal before the convention, which gives Ireland great facility in extending its criminal justice muscle.

Furthermore, a judicial authority or a central authority in one member state may make direct contact with a police or customs authority from another member state or, in respect of requests for mutual assistance in respect of proceedings, with an administrative authority from another member state. A spontaneous exchange of information, namely, without prior request, may take place between member states regarding criminal offences and administrative infringements, the punishment or handling of which falls within the competence of the receiving authority.

Mutual assistance can take various forms, from stolen objects, which must be placed at the disposal of the requesting state with a view to their return to their rightful owners, to the temporary transfer of a person held on the territory of a member state that has requested an investigation in the territory of the member state in which the investigation is to take place.

This legislation will allow a witness or an expert in a member state to be heard by the judicial authorities of another member state by videoconference if this is not contrary to the fundamental principles of the requested member state and if all the parties concerned are in agreement.

Controlled deliveries may be permitted on the territory of another member state within the framework of criminal investigations into extraditable offences. They are to be directed and monitored by the authorities of the requested member state. Two or more member states may set up a joint investigation team, the composition of which is to be set out in a joint agreement between the member states concerned. The team would be set up for a specific purpose and for a limited period of time. An official from the member state in which the team is operating would co-ordinate and lead its activities in the territory of that member state. This is a very good provision which is to be welcomed.

Covert investigations may also be carried out by officers acting under covert or false identity, provided that the national law and procedures of the member state where the investigations take place are complied with. This is also an important provision. Telephone communications may be intercepted at the request of a competent authority from another member state. Communications may now either be intercepted and transmitted directly to the requesting member state or recorded for subsequent transmission.

All of these measures will have the effect of strengthening the arm of the Irish criminal justice system in tackling the increasing, and seemingly unfettered, problem of international crime and criminal elements from abroad. Fine Gael will always support reasoned and fair legislation that increases the powers of the State in an equitable and responsible fashion.

I welcome this Bill and its provisions and Fine Gael will support it. However, I have previously stated in this House that it seems the Government consistently puts on the back burner the passing of legislation to bring Ireland in line with international law or to ratify agreements to which we are a party or a signatory. Although I recognise that this bill was published last year, the agreements which it seeks to enshrine in our law and to which it aims to give effect date from well before that.

The convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters between the member states of the European Union was finalised in May 2000 and its protocol was finalised on 16 October 2001; the Council framework decision dates from July 2003; the second additional protocol to the European convention of 20 April 1959 dates from 2001; the treaty between the United States of America and Ireland came about on 18 January 2001; and the Council decision concerning Ireland's request to take part in some of the provisions of the Schengen acquis with regard to mutual assistance was created in 2002. Perhaps the Minister could explain why these matters always take so long to reach the Order Paper. Having said that, I welcome and support this Bill.