Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State. Those who have spoken and who will speak do so with far more expertise in this area than me and it was interesting to hear Senator Regan and Senator O'Donovan speak about experience of money coming into his office. I also look forward to hearing Senator Bacik. I speak without that expertise but my interest originally comes from political subversives, particularly in respect of Northern Ireland, and seeing where the money came from and the manner in which it was laundered. I assumed this Bill was introduced with the enthusiasm of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, who has shown a particular interest in this matter because he comes from an area so close to the Border. Since then, I realised he has covered a far wider area in this Bill.

On Monday, it was reported that Russian investigators broke up a crime ring that had laundered more than €1.6 billion since 2007 for companies and individuals in and around Moscow. In the EU, we have massive problems with money laundering and this Bill will go a long way to addressing them. It has been just reported that the OECD is planning to list tax offences as a form of money laundering. This would obviously hit Switzerland as the country's banking secrecy laws would not hold in arguing against assistance to foreign tax authorities, as the rule cited in money laundering cases. A Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday that if tax offences were reclassified as money laundering, lawyers, tax advisers, accountants and bankers implicated in such offences could be sentenced to up to three years in jail. Does the Minister support such a move by the OECD? Does he believe Switzerland is the weak link in the fight against money laundering?

On-line gambling is also a problem that arises when it comes to money laundering. At present there are no EU rules on on-line gambling. Several countries have tried to ban cross-border on-line betting but the European Commission launched proceedings against them for breaking Internal Market rules. I have been involved in Brussels in the past few years with regard to retailing and the efforts made to enhance retailing across borders are quite difficult to effect because each country wants to implement its own laws on matters such as VAT. The effort to have an internal open market is not easy to achieve. It did not dawn on me that on-line betting would be included in this. Does the Minister think on-line gambling should be regulated? Let us consider the extreme example in the US, where the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 has effectively banned Internet gambling in the United States but has been delayed until 1 June 2010. As on-line gambling is conducted by a verifiable credit card and betting companies are doing everything to ensure their profits are legal in order to keep their licence, is there any need to reduce further regulations?

Ireland will implement the third EU anti-money laundering and counter-financing directive through this Bill. The Government is already years late in implementing the directive, which was supposed to have been fully adopted by December 2007, not 2008 or 2009. Last October the European Court of Justice ruled Ireland had failed in its duty to transpose the law. Given that it will take some time before Ireland implements the directive fully after this legislation has been passed, when does the Minister believe the legislation will be fully introduced? Will it be before December of this year in order to avoid EU fines? This is particularly relevant in light of the proposal of the Minister to introduce amendments in this House. Will these amendments delay the Bill further and will another deadline be missed?

An interesting idea is longer prison sentences if criminals do not pay back the proceeds of crime. Related to the problem of laundered money is how to punish those involved in such activities. In Liverpool a prominent drug dealer was the mastermind behind a gang that posed as booze cruisers to bring cocaine into Britain from the Netherlands on passenger ferries. He was found to have benefited to the tune of nearly £1 million. However, the UK courts could only order him to pay back £600,000. Now a new UK law means that criminals will have longer prison sentences in the UK if they do not pay back the proceeds of crime. I was not aware of this and found it very interesting.

The drug dealer in question had an extra 4.5 years put on his 13-year sentence for failing to pay the £600,000. Another millionaire UK gang leader who housed and employed illegal immigrants on Merseyside was jailed for ten years after refusing to pay back £1.4 million. The UK police said that even if someone goes straight, he or she will owe that money and it can all be taken: "We cannot force them to sell a car or a house, but it is up to them to find the money to pay off the value of it because we have proved it was bought with the proceeds of crime". I wonder what the Irish situation is in that regard. We have done great work with CAB and other countries have followed our example, but I am not sure of the situation in that regard.

I would be interested to get the Minister's view on this. Does he believe that if a criminal does not pay back the proceeds of crime, he or she could serve a longer sentence? Would he consider introducing legislation to this effect? Could communities benefit from criminal gangs through a cash back scheme, as it were? I believe we should look at new ways of helping communities which have been so affected by criminal gangs. Communities in Merseyside can benefit from cash back from criminals as millions of pounds seized in assets, much of which is laundered money, are to be spent on worthwhile projects nominated by members of the public. A £4 million community cash back fund has been made available for local schemes in the UK. Successful bids have to show how the local community is involved in proposing the project, demonstrate good value for money and how it would be related in some way to tackling anti-social or criminal behaviour locally. Merseyside Criminal Justice Board is able to submit project proposals for funding up to a maximum of £95,000. These are the areas affected by criminality and the communities benefit rather than the money going into a big pot somewhere else.

Given that we too have communities that are similarly affected by criminal gangs, could we not help them in a similar way? I realise the selling of criminal assets is the norm and CAB has worked very well in this regard, but how about diverting at least some portion of these moneys back into the communities to help them stop gangs from getting stronger? I would be interested to know whether the Minister would consider such a proposal. I support the legislation and the direction in which it is going. I am not quite sure I understand the amendment the Minister of State plans to introduce on Committee Stage, but I believe the Bill is well worth supporting and that it will achieve its objectives. I am sure we will need more legislation later. No matter what steps we take in this area, someone finds a way around them and we have to do more later.