Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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212. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the extent to which she and her Department are successfully combatting organised crime; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8592/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Tackling serious and organised crime is a key priority for me as Minister for Justice and I am committed to ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs to ensure communities around Ireland are safe and feel safe.

This is reflected in the unprecedented allocation of over €2.35 billion in Budget 2024. The record budgetary resources allocated to An Garda Síochána in recent years have enabled the Garda Commissioner to assign extra resources to the specialist units involved in tackling organised crime, including the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Armed Support Unit and the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB). Since 2015, over €345m in drugs have been seized by the Gardaí.

An Garda Síochána remains resolute in its determination to act against those engaged in organised crime. Cooperation with international law enforcement agencies remains a key element of the Garda response in view of the global nature of organised crime and the drugs trade, with Gardaí working closely with relevant law enforcement agencies such as INTERPOL and Europol to target drug trafficking.

Last week, following a joint operation at Cork Port between An Garda Síochána and Revenue’s Customs Service, Gardaí along with Revenue Officers seized 546kg of a synthetic drug, with an estimated value of €32.8 million. In the same week Gardaí also arrested a man following a seizure of drugs worth over €6.4 million at Rosslare Europort by Revenue Officers.

Last December I received Government approval to open extradition and mutual legal assistance negotiations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is important that criminals see there can be no hiding place from the law, and that the State will do everything in its power to bring those who spread misery in our communities to justice.

The Government is committed to taking a number of direct actions to tackle organised criminal groups, including by:

• Increasing the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder from 10 years to life in prison to tackle those who direct organised and drug related crime;
• Introducing new legislation which will criminalise the grooming of children into a life of crime;
• Supporting the roll-out of Greentown, a pilot programme which is seeking to break the link between the gangs and the children they try to recruit.