Fitzgerald announces legislative measures to tackle organised crime

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has announced new measures to tackle organised crime, including legislation to strengthen the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).

The Government has approved the drafting of legislation which would, in some cases, allow the CAB to immediately freeze assets which are suspected to be the proceeds of crime.

It will also reduce the threshold which applies under the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 from €13,000 to €5,000.

The prescribed sum under section 38 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994 under which cash suspected of being the proceeds of crime may be seized will be reduced from €6,500 to €1,000 by way of a regulation.

Ms Fitzgerald also notified the Government that she will bring forward proposals to update the legislative framework for the lawful interception of communications and for covert electronic surveillance.

She said: “I have asked An Garda Síochána and my Department to continue working urgently and closely together to see whether there are other changes in the law which might be made to address the reality of groups intent on carrying out a sustained series of killings while endangering the safety of communities.

“Next week I intend to meet my colleagues from Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands in relation to the transnational dimensions to organised criminal activity.”

The Justice Minister recently signed the rules of court as the final step necessary to establish a second Special Criminal Court, so that it can start dealing with the current backlog of cases.

Ms Fitzgerald concluded: “The message we are sending to these criminal gangs is that there will be no let up in the pressure upon them.

“Communities have been put in fear by the cycle of mindless killings we have witnessed. These measures are aimed at breaking that cycle and to bring home to these people that no-one is above the law.”