Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the House for facilitating this motion this afternoon. The Government yesterday approved my Department's request to seek the approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas to opt in to this European Commission proposal. The Minister of State, Deputy Browne, also yesterday presented the motion to the Dáil, which was approved. The proposal seeks to establish a collaboration platform to facilitate exchanges and co-operation within the joint investigation team framework. Joint investigation teams have proven to be one of the most successful tools for cross-border investigations and prosecutions, so I am delighted to have the opportunity to present this motion to this House today.

By way of background, joint investigation teams, JITs, are set up by two or more states for the purpose of specific criminal investigations with a cross-border impact and for a limited period of time. This framework allows the competent judicial and law enforcement authorities involved to organise and co-ordinate their actions jointly and to investigate efficiently, even in very complex cases such as organised crime activities. An Garda Síochána currently participates in JITs and supports this initiative.

Although JITs have proven to be one of the most successful tools for cross-border investigations and prosecutions in the EU, practice shows that they have been facing several technical difficulties preventing them from gaining the highest possible efficiency. The JITs collaboration platform proposed in this regulation aims to solve these problems and deliver the technical support that has been missing thus far.

The proposal will establish a highly secure collaboration platform, provide technological support for participants and ensure that information and evidence can be shared more effectively and safely. The main objective of the proposal is to provide technological support to those involved in JITs to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their cross-border investigations and prosecutions. To meet these objectives and to tackle the underlying difficulties, a dedicated IT platform is proposed. The platform will be accessible to all actors involved in JIT proceedings, including specific member states' representatives, representatives of third countries invited to co-operate in the context of a given investigation team, and the competent European Union bodies, offices and agencies such as Eurojust, Europol and the European Public Prosecutor's Office. The proposed collaboration platform will solve the technical problems and provide the technical support that has been missing from joint investigations to date.

The regulation itself is more technical than legal in nature and applies to the processing of information, including personal data, within the context of a JIT. That includes the exchange and storage of operational information and evidence as well as non-operational information. This regulation applies to the operational and post-operational phases of a JIT, starting from the moment the relevant joint investigation agreement is signed by its members. This regulation does not amend or otherwise affect the existing legal provisions on the establishment, conduct or evaluation of JITs.

The legal basis for setting up a JIT is Article 13 of the European Union Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, and a Council framework decision of 13 June 2002 on JITs.

The Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Act 2004 provides for the measures necessary to give effect to European Council decision on JITs and provides for the terms under which the teams can be established. The Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 2019 made further provisions in this regard to better facilitate the participation of members of An Garda Síochána in JITs.

To provide broader context, this proposal is one of a package of measures announced by the Commission on the digitalisation of justice in the EU as part of a larger initiative to enable the secure electronic communication and exchange of information and documents between courts, national authorities, and justice and home affairs agencies. This is a stand-alone proposal to the other measures in the digitalisation pack. Ireland intends to opt in at a later date to other such proposals when the preparatory work is undertaken.

For member states, no technical costs are considered because the platform will be developed and hosted by the EU centrally and accessed remotely using a browser-based system. There will be a one-off EU development cost incurred centrally of around €10 million. There will also be an EU centrally recurring cost for technical matters, maintenance and operation of the platform of approximately €3 million per year. For member states, the platform will not require any adaptions of the national technical infrastructure and access will be web-based, resulting in minimal costs. It will simply require a PC with a browser and an authorised account which will include relevant security features.

The JIT framework has been pivotal in recent years to tackling serious, organised and transnational crime. Ireland currently participates in JITs and we certainly see the value in continuing to do so and in supporting this proposal.

By way of an example, following the discovery of 39 individuals in Essex in the United Kingdom in October 2019, the UK, Irish, Belgian and French authorities carried out initial actions and subsequently conducted investigations and searches in regard to these tragic events, which led to the formation of a JIT. The effective liaison by An Garda Síochána with the other participating forces in this JIT, with colleagues in the PSNI and various other police agencies, meant a number of suspects were apprehended and sentenced to significant periods of detention following conviction by various courts in several jurisdictions.

This is a practical example of a JIT in action. The experience gained in respect of multijurisdictional operations and the available support from various European statutory agencies such as Eurojust and Europol cannot be underestimated from an operational and learning perspective and will be built on and utilised by An Garda Síochána.

Indeed only on Monday, the EU announced that it is setting up a JIT with Ukraine to collect evidence and investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. In a statement following a phone call with President Zelenskyy regarding the atrocities in Bucha, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated:

The EU is ready to reinforce this effort by sending investigation teams on the ground to support the Ukrainian Prosecution Services. Eurojust and Europol are ready to assist.

President von der Leyen went on to state:

A global response is necessary. There are ongoing talks between Eurojust and the International Criminal Court to join forces and for the Court to be part of the Joint Investigation Team.

This is a further demonstration of the framework in action.

Ireland, together with our EU partners, is committed to tackling serious crime, as well as organised cross-border and transnational crime, and our continued engagement and commitment to joint cross-border Investigations is central to that. The current proposal will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of such investigations. Therefore, the Government has no hesitation in commending to the House the motion that we opt in to this proposal. The Office of the Attorney General has advised that opting in to the proposed decision does not create any constitutional or legal issues for the State. Doing so now under the Article 3 opt-in will ensure we are at the table with our European partners and involved fully in the detailed discussions on the negotiation of the regulation. It will also indicate our continuing commitment to tackling serious cross-border and transnational crime.

I commend the motion to the House.