Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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87. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the review initiated in 2011 by an expert group within her Department to conduct an examination of the proceeds of crime legislation, including if it is complete; if not, the reason; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14303/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy and I had a productive meeting to discuss new legislation in this area and I look forward to carrying on this work.

An Expert Group was established under the auspices of the Department of Justice and Equality to review the Proceeds of Crime legislation with a view to identifying possible improvements which would serve to enhance the powers of the Bureau.

The areas under review in this regard included:

- Decreasing the amount of time which must elapse before criminal assets which have been frozen become the property of the State;

- Increasing the powers of receivers over properties so as to immediately deprive criminals of the use of those properties;

- Short term seizure of assets believed to be the proceeds of crime pending determination by the courts; and

- Further improving measures supporting international cooperation.

Further to that work, a broader review of proceeds of crime legislation was undertaken to examine the recommendations contained in the Mahon Planning Tribunal Report concerning asset recovery and confiscation and to take account of the EU Directive on the freezing and confiscation of proceeds of crime in the European Union which was agreed in 2014.

Work on the preparation of proposals arising from the work of the Expert Group for consultation with the Office of the Attorney General is continuing and a final report will be prepared in due course.

As the Deputy is aware, part of the Government approved proposals to strengthen the measures in place to target organised crime is a proposal to provide the Criminal Assets Bureau with a power of administrative restraint reflecting one of the measures under examination by the Expert Group. In addition, it is further proposed to reduce the threshold which applies under the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 from €13,000 to €5,000. These proposals will form part of a package of measures to effect immediate changes in this area that would be particularly effective in helping to target current gangland activity.