Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will meet the Senator after the session and explain the force of parliamentary questions and matters on the Adjournment debate if he wants to get answers. I welcome the Minister and thank her for taking this debate on the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) (Amendment) Bill 2014. The Bill is very important legislation which will greatly assist in combatting criminality within borders where the protagonist may have absconded and seeks to evade prosecution and arrest for national crimes. The Minister will correct me if I am wrong, but I understand requests for such assistance must be made by a court or tribunal of the country involved and any other authority, such as ministries, departments of justice, attorneys general and public prosecutors can also make requests.
The purpose of this amendment Bill is to give full legal effect to six international legal instruments which we have already ratified here in the Oireachtas. It will give national legal effect to a number of European Council framework decisions. The first of these decisions is that member states recognise and execute financial penalty orders issued by a court in another member state. Once this Bill becomes law it will mean fines in excess of €70 imposed in other countries can be collected here in Ireland and vice versa. The Bill will also give effect to a decision to recognise and execute confiscation orders issued by a court. This is an important aspect of the legislation. Many of us in Ireland would be well informed particularly by the media of convicted drug dealers living it up on the proceeds of their crimes in various parts of Europe. This framework decision will allow confiscation orders take effect in other member states to which the proceeds of crime have been trafficked for the criminals’ use and benefit.
The Bill will improve co-operation between member states in man-made crisis situations, such as terrorism incidents, only when a single member state may not have the means to deal with it alone. Given the increasing threat of attack from various factions in recent years, it is clear that all member states could mutually benefit from increased co-operation in this regard. While some countries are to the forefront of staving off these threats and have the knowledge, intelligence and capacity to deal with them, others have not built up the same intelligence over the years. As a consequence, this framework decision will bolster operations in these countries for the good of Europe and the western world. This is very welcome. The Bill will allow increased co-operation between Eurojust, which deals with judicial co-operation in criminal matters and other agencies, for example the European Anti-fraud Office, OLAF, which investigates fraud against the EU budget, and Europol, which handles criminal intelligence. The effect of this council decision will be strengthened Eurojust operational capabilities with far reaching ability to deal with threats.
The Bill will also give full legal effect to enhanced procedural rights for persons where decisions are rendered in the absence of that person concerned at the trial. This is an important provision given the numbers who are a flight risk when criminal proceedings have been issued or may be issued. Senator Power mentioned an incident in which a person evaded the possibility of criminal proceedings being brought against him. It is in the public interest that, irrespective of where someone of such largesse has escaped to, there are mechanisms to prevent the person from evading justice on any such issue as the law provides. Finally, the Bill will give full effect to an agreement between Japan and EU member states for mutual legal assistance based on existing provisions of the 2008 Act which is in force here.
The main thrust of the Bill is to ensure closer co-operation between the legal systems of the countries signed up to the process so that issues pertaining to the investigation of serious international crime can be assisted in the wider public interest. For instance, the Bill will increase citizens' and sovereign security in that it will allow for the facilitation of the gathering of evidence for use in jurisdictions abroad, freezing or confiscation of the proceeds of crime, and will assist with the service of legal documents. Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve greater unity among its members, the adoption of common rules in the field of mutual assistance in criminal matters will not only contribute to the attainment of this aim but will make criminality without borders, whereby a criminal can become immune to prosecution by moving to another country, a thing of the past within the EU member states and Japan. It is great to see that becoming something that is outdated and outmoded. I commend the Bill to the House.