Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Because this is the first opportunity have had to address the issue, I congratulate the Minister and the Department, as well as An Garda Síochána, in particular, for the work that has been done in Ireland and internationally in regard to the Kinahan gang. We have taken extraordinary steps forward. If ever there were a case for international co-operation, what has been done with the drug enforcement administration in the United States and the freezing of assets in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere, is a demonstration of how that co-operation can work. I do not expect the Minister to comment on this, but it is tremendously important that we take steps to at least seek the extradition of certain persons from the UAE. I believe that is now possible. Notwithstanding the absence of an extradition treaty, I know that it has been achieved by the Italians in respect of Raffaele Imperiale, a drug trafficker. It is something we should definitely look at. I understand it would be done at the discretion of the Department. I do not expect the Minister to comment on circumstances that would happen as a result of a decision taken internally in the Department. I congratulate those involved in the work that has been done. We can see the fruits of that work. It ties in nicely with this issue because there is no doubt that those results have been achieved because of co-operation between police forces and agencies on an international basis.

The points the Minister made about the danger of a country such as Ireland stepping out of these agreements are very well received. I will talk about the protections in a moment. Although we sometimes fear exposing ourselves to that level of international co-operation and connectivity, it carries, almost uniquely, benefits for a country such as Ireland. It is tremendously important to look at the possibilities that may open up for a country such as Ireland, particularly in crime detection as well as enforcement and prosecution. The opportunities that could be opened up are enormous. In that regard, it is important to note the safeguards the Minister mentioned in her contribution. When we think of this level of co-operation internationally and the danger of the breadth of information that may be available to another state, for example, it is an issue about which people may have concerns.

It is important to remind ourselves that we are dealing with the EU and the UK, and countries that have protocols in place to protect people's data. We will not go down the road of countries such as China, where large tranches of information are sifted by artificial intelligence, and other systems, and where facial recognition software is used to identify people in crowded places, etc. That is not, as I understand it, envisaged by this regulation. There are protections in place in order that data protection regulations still hold sway and people's individual data will be protected, which is tremendously important. What the Minister said about retaining control of our data is also tremendously important, while allowing other jurisdictions to potentially access aspects of that data to carry out crime detection activities, makes perfect sense.

We should not be afraid of co-operation on a policing level with other countries, particularly those in the EU, in regard to the kind of data we have discussed, such as fingerprints, palm prints, and car registrations. I note what the Minister said about the extension of that to police records. Again, this is something that happens, albeit on a slower and more systematic basis. Upon the introduction of a semi-automated system, it would not be the case that gardaí would be able to log in to a computer in Ireland and look through the records of the Polish or French police and vice versa. What we are talking about is a more efficient method of accessing data that should be available to everybody in the EU. There is a danger we have seen present in the US, where there are different states, counties and jurisdictions. The co-operation between them does not always work. We should have a seamless police environment within the EU so that we can effect the greatest possible policing at a European level, which would benefit us in Ireland as much as it would benefit other European states.

To those who have legitimate concerns about what this might mean, it is important to reassure them that safeguards are built into this provision that will protect them from the undue use and exploitation of their data. Equally, when we talk about exploitation, the great danger with not approving this motion is, as the Minister said, if there is a gap in those provisions, it will be exploited by criminal elements. It behoves Ireland to be as much a part of these measures as possible because they will benefit our policing, our detection, our prosecution. It would allow An Garda Síochána, as a police force, and the State to be more effective than if we were not part of it. I welcome and support the motion. I hope it will pass because I believe it will improve the policing environment in Ireland and across the European Union.