Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I said earlier that the State responded. In fairness to the Oireachtas, it was one of the fairly significant times when all parties came together as one. Senator Norris may be correct concerning the exhortations made by Deputy Tony Gregory and it is true that the Rainbow coalition brought in the legislation with the acquiescence of all the parties, including my own, in Opposition. I was Chief Whip of my party from 1994 to 1997 and I recall that Deputy John O'Donoghue brought forward a very detailed Bill on the criminal assets issue. The then Government accepted the spirit of that legislation and brought in its own Bill to which we were very much able to consent.

The Criminal Assets Bureau has been very successful. A number of Senators, including Senators Hannigan and Bacik, pointed out that we have a new focus on middle ranking criminals. We are still going after the high rollers as well as the middle ranking ones.

An issue was raised about the return of assets to the USA. There is a facility in our legislation that permits the return of assets to individuals where it is proved that they are the rightful owners of the assets.

Senator Regan raised the issue of bilateral treaties and sharing agreements, as referenced in paragraph 7.7 of the report. The bureau's chief officer and legal officer are looking at this matter and I would be very much open to proposals in this regard.

Senator O'Donovan raised the issue, as he always does, of the fishing industry. The reality is that the CAB is designed to chase the proceeds of all crime no matter its provenance. If there is crime in the fishing industry that the CAB can deal with, it should do so.

Concerning the net financial gain, it would be incorrect to talk about net gain to the State. The CAB is not designed to gain resources but to go after those people who have ill-gotten gains. However, it is fair to say that, as a State, we have taken in far more than it has cost to run the bureau.

A number of Senators raised the issue of ring-fencing resources which suggests that these areas are already starved of resources and that they need more. The reality is that under the young person's facilities and services fund, a major fund provided for by the Exchequer under the dormant accounts scheme, there has been considerable investment in those areas, in particular those geographically disadvantaged areas where drugs have had significant effect. There have been major efforts to deal with the services and to respond to people who are victims of drug abuse. Approximately 8,500 people avail of methadone programmes and other services funded by the Exchequer. It is my view that it is better the Exchequer fund these services on a more long-term and constant basis rather than rely on funds that may or may not come through from the CAB.

Before I deviate from the subject of the CAB, Senator Coghlan raised the question whether there should be a separate CAB in Limerick. I would not want——-