Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome Senator Hannigan's contribution and the earlier contribution by Senator Cummins and the broad welcome they have extended to this legislation. The legislation is a Bill initiated in Seanad Éireann and it underwent substantial revision and change in Dáil Éireann. I appreciate the positive spirit in which the Senator has addressed that because the option for me was to deal with the new international agreements we have been obliged to implement since the initiation of this Bill. The option was to produce fresh legislation on that or use the opportunity of this legislation to incorporate them as well and we have taken that opportunity. I realise I could have been criticised for that so I am grateful to both Senators for the welcome they have extended.

The majority of the amendments before us give effect to the mutual assistance provisions in five additional international instruments which I should recite on the record. There is the UN Convention against Corruption, the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds of Crime and the Financing of Terrorism, the 2005 Council decision on the exchange of information and co-operation concerning terrorist offences, and the co-operation agreement between the European Community and its member states on the one hand and the Swiss Confederation to combat fraud and any other illegal activity to the detriment of their financial interests.

Those five additional international agreements fall for implementation by us and rather than drawing up separate legislation we have used the opportunity of the passage of this Bill, initiated in Seanad Éireann, through Dáil Éireann to incorporate those provisions in this primary statute. I share the view expressed by Senator Hannigan and Senator Cummins that with greater trade and greater movement of persons, goods and merchandise there are greater opportunities for transnational criminality. It is important, therefore, that we have legislation in force that is robust and that can secure the necessary assistance from other jurisdictions. I am aware that preliminary meetings have taken place between the Garda Síochána, the customs authorities and the other relevant authorities with a view to a swift implementation of this legislation.

Regarding Senator Cummins's intervention on the subject of the Lisbon treaty, I wish to correct Senator Cummins. I realise what he said was in a constructive spirit but the Government has not exercised a facility to opt out of European co-operation in the area of justice and home affairs. The position under the Lisbon treaty is that qualified majority voting is being introduced for the first time in the justice and home affairs sector. The initial constitutional treaty provided for qualified majority voting and both the United Kingdom and Ireland initially were receptive to that proposal. As a result of discussions which took place prior to the drafting of the Lisbon treaty, however, the United Kingdom secured an arrangement in discussions between its Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, and the German Chancellor, Ms Angela Merkel, whereby in effect Britain was allowed to opt out of qualified majority voting in the justice and home affairs sector.

That left Ireland in a very difficult position. Our European friends and partners agreed that if Britain were to have such a facility, it would be only logical that a jurisdiction that has an utterly similar legal system should have a similar facility. The Government carefully weighed up the arguments in this issue and decided it was in Ireland's best interests at this stage to follow the British position in regard to the legal system because of the similarity of our two legal systems. We could not put our Taoiseach in the position of having to press an emergency brake on some obscure legal issue. We have the facility under Lisbon to opt out of qualified majority voting in the justice area.