Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While I welcome the Minister of State, I express my regret and disappointment that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, is not present for the debate on this important legislation.

The Bill updates legislation that Fianna Fáil passed in 2010 which transposed EU directives and UN conventions into national law. Its aim is to combat the efforts of criminals and other associates to conceal the origins of the proceeds of criminal activity or channel money into terrorist activity. In the light of ongoing dissident republican activity across the country, the need to tackle money laundering directly is particularly important to Ireland. Criminal activity in diesel laundering, racketeering, illegal tobacco sales and other illicit activities undertaken by a rump republican movement continues to present a serious threat to law and order in the State and the Garda must be fully resourced to meet this threat. Unfortunately, the number of gardaí is probably at its lowest in a decade and resources are wafer thin. It is difficult to see how modern, sophisticated Garda units can be properly resourced in the current situation. These are points I would have liked to make to the Minister.

It is also important to note that the objective of this legislation is primarily to deal with dissident republican activity. A US Department of State report on terrorist finance cited the major role that tobacco sales, subsequently laundered, were playing in fuelling global terrorism. There is also a problem in this country with illicit tobacco sales. The report specifically mentioned the role of the Real IRA, among other international groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK. We are dealing with a very serious issue.

Last week I was unable to contribute to a debate on the issue of diesel laundering, particularly along the Border. It is particularly relevant to the Minister of State's native county, County Louth, and all the Senators from County Louth contributed to the debate. I listened to some of it. It is a serious problem. It appears to me, as a person from the south west of the country, that the State, the Garda and the Customs service are losing the battle against these organised criminals and money laundering. It is a small concentrated area and I realise the State organisations are doing their utmost, but it appears the criminals can wilfully move from A to B to C. When one operation is closed down, they open one up somewhere else within a few days. This must be seriously examined. That view has been expressed to me by middle ranking gardaí who, in the past, might have served in some of the Border counties and the northern area. We appear to be losing that war, about which I am very worried.

The Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, a multi-agency body staffed by people from the taxation, customs, revenue and social welfare areas, as well as the Garda, must play a central role in identifying and targeting money laundering activities and the assets of groups such as the Real IRA and the newly emergent New IRA alliance of dissident groups. Dissident republican groups have been waging a campaign of violence against the people of Ireland that is funded by a series of money laundering processes which turn illicit funds into the fuel for terrorism. This is a frightening scenario. There is a view which I share and which I raised with the Minister in the past few weeks that gang warfare is running wild in Dublin, with people being knocked off almost on a weekly basis. Some of this is connected to the Real IRA or dissident republicans, which is a sad reflection on the State. I hope the Garda, the Minister and the Government will try to tackle and stymie it.

We have successfully dealt with it in Limerick and it seems to be a problem in Dublin. I hope the situation is a result of under resourcing or a lack of funds, but I think not. On an almost weekly basis in Dublin there are tit-for-tat killings and gang leaders knocking off others. We should not shed crocodile tears for those who were gunned down because they lived by the gun. I hope the Minister of State will convey my serious concerns to the Minister.

The violent feud between republicans and drug lords in Dublin and the ongoing violence against PSNI officers in Northern Ireland continue to cast a dark shadow across the political landscape of the island. We have a peace process, which we all lauded. Some 98% of people in the Republic of Ireland welcomed it, and it was welcomed in Northern Ireland. I am delighted to hear senior Sinn Féin figures condemn those who are fuelling dissident republicanism. Their idealism has gone out the door and I often wonder whether the Real IRA and dissident republicanism are a front to add some small degree of legitimacy to their operations such as money laundering, diesel laundering and tobacco smuggling. The veil of importance which has been put on such people should be unmasked by the Bill. We welcome the Bill and will support it.

The enhancing of money laundering legislation in line with international standards and the experience of the 2010 legislation will enable Ireland to move effectively to deal with the threat of dissident republicans. However, the Government assault on the Garda, which stands as the thin blue line against the violence of terrorists, undermines its efforts to challenge violence. It is a point I have raised before and I do not want to rabbit on about it.

The Minister, Deputy Shatter, said in an Adjournment motion that the closure of rural barracks was not a cost-saving exercise. I would love to see an evaluation done in three or five years time on what, if anything, has been saved by closing stations across the country. Some five or six in my constituency were closed. It is a backward step.

I am also concerned about the slow reopening of the Garda training facilities in Templemore. The previous Government started the process. We are almost at crisis point. The number of new recruits who have been properly trained has decreased so much that if the situation is not addressed in the next year or two we could face a serious problem in the next four or five years.

The Garda needs to be effectively resourced to meet the threats of the dissident republican movement and ensure Ireland is not exploited by international terrorist groups to finance their global activities. From time to time I have thrown daggers and spears at the Minister, Deputy Shatter. I have also praised him when he has done positive things. I am not being personal.

When I see the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, fighting for farmers and fishermen in Europe, he wears the green jersey. We should unite and I want to show the complete solidarity on this side of the House with what the Minister, Deputy Shatter, the Government and the Garda at all levels are trying to do to stymie those engaged in laundering diesel, smuggling cigarettes, terrorism and so on.

All of us in our democracy should continue to ensure we close ranks, despite our political differences and disputes, to ensure the Garda has the full moral authority of the Houses and that the Minister has our support. There may be a change of Government in three or five years time, but we have to be combined, relentless and ruthless in our campaign against terrorism. The Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Shatter, have our full support for the Bill. We wish it a speedy passage through the House.