THE Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, said yesterday she was confident progress would be made on the issues of trafficking in women and children and the drugs trade at the informal two day meeting of European justice ministers in Dublin Castle, which starts tomorrow.
The meeting will discuss a proposal to extend the mandate of the drugs unit of Europol, the agency for co-operation between European police forces, to include the exchange of information on abduction.
"At the moment there is close liaison and co-operation in the exchange of information about drug trafficking. Now, with this initiative the same kind of channels of co-operation and communication will be built up on this whole issue of trafficking in women and children" Mrs Owen said.
Although she had highlighted this issue at the start of the Irish presidency, "obviously the Belgian case has brought the whole matter into sharp focus".
Up to now, each country has tended to deal with the issue on its own and there was no proper exchange of information.
She said the Belgian case had shown the need for the exchange of information on missing children because they might be brought from one country to another.
The Minister will also be pressing for a uniform sentence throughout Europe for drug trafficking.