Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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185. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons arrested for fraud offences in each of the past ten years and to date in 2024, in tabular form. [41826/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, in accordance with the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including all operational policing matters. As Minister, I have no role in these matters, nor can I direct the Commissioner with regard to them.

I am committed to building stronger, safer communities and ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs, which is reflected in the unprecedented allocation of over €2.35 billion for 2024.

I am assured by the Garda authorities that the distribution of Garda resources is kept under constant review, in light of policing priorities and emerging crime trends.

I am advised by the Garda authorities that the table below sets out the number of arrests related to Fraud/Economic Crime offences in the past ten years.

Please note that this data was taken from the PULSE system on 11 October 2024 and is operational and subject to change.

*up to 11 October.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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186. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the amount of cash and assets seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) in each of the past 12 years; and the total amount returned to the Exchequer by the CAB in the same period. [41827/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Eradicating organised crime is central to building safer, stronger communities. I am absolutely committed to that goal, and strengthening and expanding CAB is an important element of this. It is essential to deprive criminals of the proceeds of crime and 2023 was a record year for the Criminal Assets Bureau in this regard.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) is a multi-agency statutory body established under the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996. The Bureau’s remit is to target a person's assets, wherever situated, which derive, or are suspected to derive, directly or indirectly, from criminal conduct. The Chief Bureau Officer is responsible to the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána for the administration and business of the Criminal Assets Bureau. As Minister for Justice, I have no direct role in these functions.

Since its inception, the Bureau has been at the forefront of fighting organised crime in this jurisdiction and disrupting the activities of criminal gangs by depriving them of ill-gotten assets.

Earlier this year, I announced plans to introduce legislation to further strengthen the State’s ability to seize criminal assets. The Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2024 will make significant changes to existing legislation to strengthen the ability of the Criminal Assets Bureau to target the proceeds of crime and will speed up the process to dispose of the asset for the benefit of the State.

Throughout 2023, the Bureau placed particular emphasis on targeting the criminal groups engaged in serious and organised crime, as well as property crime, such as burglaries and robberies. A particular focus of the Bureau's activities centres upon rural crime and a number of the Bureau’s actions were in support of law enforcement in Regional locations.

CAB’s impact on those who cause such damage to communities across the country by engaging in criminality is evident in the fact that it forwarded in excess of €8.6 million to the Central Fund during 2023, which can be broken down as follows:

• €2.219 million under the Proceeds of Crime legislation
• €5.792 million was collected in Revenue
• €0.639m in Social Welfare recoveries