Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, agus céad fáilte romhat, a Aire agus ach an oiread le mo chomhghleacaithe tá áthas ormsa bheith anseo le tacaíocht a thabhairt don Bhille ag an staid seo. Aontaímid go bprionsabal leis an méid atá á chur chun cinn ag an Rialtas ar an gceann seo ach measaimid go bhféadfaí b'fhéidir é a leasú ag staid na coiste agus é a láidriú agus a neartú ó thaobh chuid de na rudaí ata istigh ann.

Sinn Féin will support this Bill's passage to Committee Stage but once there, we will seek to amend it in order to strengthen some of the provisions contained therein. Sinn Féin is not opposed in principle to inter-jurisdictional police co-operation on investigation of serious crimes with a cross-border dimension. We want to see a scenario where such co-operation is authorised on a case-by-case basis, limited to the necessary, and where appropriate safeguards and accountability mechanisms are in place. Sinn Féin strongly supports effective action against cross-border organised crime, including trafficking of human beings and drugs. Sinn Féin will examine the Bill closely to ensure it will serve to reinforce justice on a European level rather than undermine it. We will work to strengthen it as best we can.

Information lawfully obtained in the Irish jurisdiction should only be made available to, and used by, the authorities in another state for a legitimate purpose, that is, for the detection, investigation and prosecution of criminal offences that are analogous to offences within the Irish jurisdiction or for the prevention of an immediate and serious threat to public safety in another state, provided that a criminal investigation is subsequently conducted. These are the circumstances under which we accept it would be reasonable and responsible and in the public interest to share information with other police services. However, the sharing of Garda or police intelligence should not happen for its own sake when there is no criminal investigation or no immediate public threat as this potentially goes against the public good and violates the right to privacy.

Sinn Féin does not support the development of an EU super-state architecture in respect of justice matters and, for this reason, it opposed the EU five-year justice and home affairs harmonisation plan, known as the Hague programme, which ran from 2005 to 2010. The party does not support the creation of a so-called European legal area with a European criminal code and a European public prosecutor. Sovereignty over justice matters must remain firmly in the hands of the people of the EU member states.

Beyond this, however, Sinn Féin has adopted a general policy of critical engagement on EU policies and legislative proposals. This means it is willing to support those it believes would be of benefit to the Irish people and to oppose those it believes would be detrimental. Sinn Féin supports measures that genuinely combat international crime or assist legitimate freedom of movement. However, our MEPs, Deputies, MLAs and Ministers will oppose any EU measures that are not fully human rights-compliant and consistent with international law.

Sinn Féin rejects the federalist trend towards incremental integration and centralisation of policing and judicial powers, ending in the eventual establishment of an EU border guard, EU police and an EU public prosecutor. Sinn Féin believes that these are matters for sovereign states. Further to this, Sinn Féin also rejects the accelerating impetus to harmonise criminal law between EU members because it is being done without first ensuring the harmonisation of rights protections which currently vary widely from state to state.

I wish to briefly mention another concern which relates to data protection issues. Any data collected under the legislation should have to comply with our standards in the Twenty-six Counties and not those of any other member state. We do not want to see a situation in which data shared in good faith leaves the hands of another member state which is no longer under the standard at which it left Ireland. We simply cannot afford to see an abuse of power by governments in this area. As a party, we call not only for international co-operation on matters such as this, but also for a strong all-Ireland and all-island policing policy for these matters.

If the Minister is willing to indulge me, yesterday we had an interesting day with the budget. I noticed an anomaly in the Minister’s budget in the Department of Justice and Equality around equality and integration where there seems to be a cut of 30% with the budget decreasing from €22 million to €15 million. Is there a specific reason for it and how will it affect the equality and integration issues which we have raised with the Minister so often here? Most of my colleagues in the Seanad have supported the recent statements by the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, on direct provision. As the senior Minister in the portfolio, does Deputy Fitzgerald share his views? Will they both work together? This will need to be an all-Government policy if direct provision is to change. It was raised here that President Higgins had hoped to visit a direct provision centre in Athlone. We are told it was blocked by the Department. Is it true?