Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 180: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the amount of money that has been seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau in each year since it's establishment in 1996; the amount of money seized and still frozen; the amount of money seized and released; the use to which the money has been put; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39280/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I have been informed by An Garda Síochána that details of the activities of the Criminal Assets Bureau are contained in the Annual Reports of the Criminal Assets Bureau since its establishment in 1996. These reports are quite comprehensive and include details of the number of cases commenced, money frozen under the Proceeds of Crime Acts and details of money collected by the Bureau under the provisions of Revenue and Social Welfare legislation. Copies of the Annual Reports are available from the Oireachtas library.

Since its statutory inception in October 1996 and up to 31 December 2005, the Bureau has obtained interim and "final" restraint orders to the value of over €58 million and €25 million respectively. In the same period, taxes and interest demanded was almost €87 million, with almost €89 million collected. Regarding social welfare payments, savings amounted to almost €2 million and recovery of overpayments amounted to almost €1 million. The following tables provide details of the amounts of money seized for the years in question under orders made under sections 2, 3, 4 and 4a of the Proceeds of Crime legislation 1996 to 2005.

The first applications for "Disposal Orders" under Section 4 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 at the end of the statutory seven year period from the making of the first Section 3 Orders in 1997 came before the Courts in 2004. In 2004 the first two Section 4 applications were concluded and two sums totalling over €275,000 were sent to the Minister of Finance for the benefit of the Central Fund, following directions made in that regard by the High Court.

Disposal Orders under Section 4 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 and Section 4A of the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act 2005 realised €2.02 million in 2005. It should be noted that some of the figures quoted under Section 2 and 3 of the Proceeds of Crime Acts relate to real property, the value of which may have increased significantly since the making of the freezing order. All funds collected by the Criminal Assets Bureau are forwarded either directly, or through the Revenue Commissioners / Department of Social and Family Affairs, to the Central Exchequer Fund under the remit of the Department of Finance and are allocated accordingly as approved by Dáil Éireann through the normal Estimates process.