Jimmy Harte (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I would like to raise two issues with regard to this legislation. I welcome the Bill, as I am sure all Members of the House do. Money has been laundered through this country for many years. Senators might be familiar with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, which records details of all transfers of money to the UK or elsewhere in Europe and sends that information to the US. The basis for this is security. People should be aware that SWIFT is required to report to the US authorities any transaction involving the transfer of money for business or personal purposes to another location in Europe. I am not sure exactly what information it gets. The US is outside the EU but it has been given the authority to look at private business. If it stops terrorism, that is fair enough. If information on the financial transactions of all EU citizens that take place outside the citizen's own state is being accumulated by the US Government for some other future purpose, I think that should be monitored. I had understood the EU's view was that it was not particularly happy about these practices, but that information might be out of date. That is my last reading on it and it might not be up to date.

I would also like to comment on the mobile phone technology that is available. Senator Bacik mentioned that there is an all-Ireland dimension to this. As the Minister of State knows, one loses one's O2 or Vodafone coverage as one travels through Northern Ireland. One can end up being covered by Vodafone UK or Orange. When I cross the Border at Lifford, I travel five or six miles before I get Eircom coverage again. There is a buffer of three or four miles on both sides of the Border where someone can use a mobile phone. The chief superintendent or whoever can put down the service in Donegal, which we control. The mobile phone capacity of someone on the other side of the Border might extend six or more miles into the South. I am not sure how far it is as the crow flies. I know from experience that the UK system tends to stop and I pick up the southern system at a certain corner in the road between Lifford and Letterkenny. Does the legislation provide for an all-Ireland dimension?

I am not sure whether the legislation includes an all-Ireland dimension such that the chief superintendent could cut off Vodafone's Irish and UK operations at the one time. Could this be clarified? It is so important that the matter be addressed because it is along the Border that much terrorist activity has taken place and still takes place. It is unlikely there will be a big terrorist event in Kerry, Cork or Waterford. If one occurs, it will most likely be along the Border, from Derry to Dundalk. Perhaps the Minister could clarify what powers the superintendent has in regard to mobile telephone technology. Do the powers of the southern security forces extend to the Thirty-two counties? If not, we must work with the authorities in the North. There should be one 32-county mobile telephone system. Vodafone's UK operation should be the same company as the one in the South. If this were sorted, this Bill would become relevant. It will be irrelevant if we cannot address the Border issue.