Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House and I welcome this Bill. Fine Gael has always supported the timely and effective integration into Irish law of international treaties, protocols and agreements to which we are signatory in line with our international obligations.

This Bill enshrines three protocols concerned with international policing co-operation and co-ordination. As the House is aware, Europol is the European Law Enforcement Organisation and its vital function is to improve the effectiveness and co-operation of the police forces in the member states in dealing with criminal matters in a joined-up manner. The organisation, which was established by the Maastricht Treaty almost a decade and a half ago, helps all European police forces to combat terrorism, tackle unlawful drug trafficking and confront serious forms of international organised crime.

The organisation is based in the Hague in the Netherlands, not far from where the Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992. Since 1994, it has co-ordinated work between the Garda Síochána and its counterpart agencies and it became fully integrated in 1999.

As of 1 January 2002, the mandate of Europol was extended to deal with all serious forms of international crime listed in the annex to the Europol Convention that was enshrined in Irish law by the Europol Act 1997. The work done by the approximately 500 people who work for Europol in the Netherlands is an invaluable tool against growing international crime, particularly in an area such as the European Union, in which ease of movement has been greatly increased and which now faces the prospect of further expansion of its international borders to the East.

When the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1953, few imagined that just 62 years later, Europe would have borders with countries such as Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, the latter two of which did not then exist independently. If and when Turkey joins, the European Union will stretch from the coast of Connemara to the deserts of Iraq, the frozen Siberian landscape and the Black Sea.

This important and progressive expansion brings new opportunities for European Union citizens and those of the accession countries alike. However, it also brings great challenges for administration and control. The European Union will soon stretch as far as some troubled regions in which instability is the order of the day. Organisations such as Europol ensure we can present a united front to elements that threaten the security of our borders, countries and citizens. Police co-operation means that dangerous criminals do not fall between inevitable administrative cracks and are caught in the wide net of police co-operation and information sharing.

It is therefore incumbent on every member state to ratify the protocols and to enshrine them in national legislation as soon as possible. I regret that Ireland does not do so more expeditiously and this regret is not restricted to matters concerning Europol. I have raised this matter in the House before, as the Government always seems to have something more important to do as it limps from one crisis to another. As the pertinent protocols to the Bill are six, four and three years old respectively, the Minister should have found time to integrate such important agreements into the Statute Book before now. Nonetheless, Fine Gael supports this Bill and its implementation and will not delay or obstruct its important passage.