Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Senator says, it is a very similar argument to the one he made before, so he will not be surprised to hear me make a similar reply. I am unable to accept this amendment because the grounds for refusal of mutual assistance applications, which are included in this Bill, already make such provisions. I refer the Senator to the provisions in section 14, "refusal to confiscate". For example, section 51B.(1)(c) states, "compliance with the external confiscation order in relation to the offence that resulted in the making of that order would infringe the ne bis in idem principle". "Ne bis in idem" means a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime.

Subsection (e) states, "the criminal conduct concerned was either committed outside the territory of the designated state or committed wholly or partly in the State" and each state only has jurisdiction of offences committed in their own state. This covers part of the Senator's argument. It goes on in section 60E, "Refusal to execute external financial penalty order". Subsection (a) states, "a financial penalty has been made in the State against the defendant in respect of the conduct which has resulted in the making of the external financial penalty order". Subsection (e) states, "the criminal conduct concerned was either committed outside the territory of the designated state or committed wholly or partly in the State". Similar provisions apply in the EU-Japan mutual assistance agreement which, as the Senator will be aware, is very recent.

I also point out that a general provision is already contained in section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) (Amendment) Bill, which provides that the relevant international instruments have effect in this State in relation to any requirements to the instrument relating to the protection, disclosure, use or transmission of information or evidence received under it.

It is the view of the Minister, with all due respect to the Senator's arguments, that mutual assistance and existing treaties do give the protections that he is seeking to achieve with both amendments.