Ireland is "particularly exposed to all forms of international crime" and is used by criminals as a gateway to and from the rest of Europe, the Minister for Justice told the Dail.
He was introducing the second stage of the Europol Bill, which will create on a statutory basis a facility for police in all EU countries to exchange information and intelligence to prevent and combat serious organised international crime affecting two or more countries. The Bill will allow the State to ratify the European Convention on Europol.
Fine Gael welcomed the Bill, and the party's justice spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, said the existing Europol drugs unit had had a significant impact on drug-trafficking and other international crime. He pointed out that the previous Minister, Mrs Nora Owen, had brought the Bill to government earlier this year.
Outlining the Bill, the Minister said that organised crime and particularly drug-trafficking was especially hard to combat. "These criminals have vast resources at their disposal, often exceeding those of countries. They are very versatile and exploit weaknesses or loopholes wherever they exist."
He added that "it would be naive to think that such ruthless criminals could be defeated by anything other than an energetic, pro-active and multi-faceted approach, embracing effective international co-operation and a zero tolerance policy in this country".
Warning of the dangers of organised criminal gangs, Mr O'Donoghue said that Ireland was beginning to become "a focus for illegal immigrant smugglers. It is all too clear to us that a small country cannot tackle these problems effectively". Criminals exploit differences in EU legal systems, he said. "They use sophisticated aliases. They develop complex trafficking routes, often zig-zagging through several countries, to avoid detection. National boundaries are no obstacle to them. In fact, they are one of the tools which they use to defeat the law enforcement authorities. We must fight back."
Referring to his zero tolerance policy, the Minister said that it was directed above all else "at positive action against serious criminals, especially those involved in the drugs trade and organised crime".
He said the Government was committed to providing 1,000 more prison spaces in two years and increasing garda numbers to 12,000 in five years as well as an "imaginative legislation programme".
The creation of the single market and the breakdown of borders within the EU had "facilitated an unprecedented increase in cross-Border crime. Just as honest law-abiding citizens can move easily from one country to another within the EU, so too can Europe's criminals".
When the convention is in force, Europol's remit will initially cover drug-trafficking, trafficking in nuclear and radioactive substances, illegal immigrant-smuggling, motor vehicle crime, trafficking in human beings and associated money-laundering activities. Within two years it will also deal with terrorism. Mr O'Donoghue said that so far, Britain was the only country to have ratified the convention, but he hoped that Ireland would ratify it before the end of the year with the enactment of the legislation.
The Bill's provisions included the establishment of a national unit to channel information to and from Europol. This would be headed by a garda of Chief Superintendent rank and would include members of other services such as customs officers. Mr Higgins said that the Europol Bill was "one example of community co-operation at international level, but only one piece in the crime jigsaw. I believe that the Justice and Home Affairs Council should seriously consider maximising co-operation across a range of areas in respect of the study of the origins, causes and sources of crime. Ireland is in a good position to lead such an initiative", he said.