FOURTH REPORT
The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
has agreed to the following Report:
THE FINANCING OF TERRORISM IN NORTHERN
IRELAND
Summary
The nature of terrorist fundraising activity in Northern
Ireland is changing. In addition to traditional fundraising activities
such as extortion and armed robbery, paramilitaries from both
traditions are increasingly turning their attention to more complex
and sophisticated forms of organised criminal activity such as
fuel smuggling and counterfeiting. These probably net the terrorist
groups millions of pounds of income each year. Some of the revenue
goes to fund individual criminal lifestyles. The remainder buys
propaganda and weapons which help terrorists maintain their dominance
- often violent - of local communities.
Organised crime, whether or not it is directly linked
to terrorism, has the potential to corrupt and undermine the economy
by distorting markets and making normal business practice impossible.
Nor is there any room for complacency that the problem is confined
to Northern Ireland: these criminals are now turning their attention
to the larger and potentially more profitable markets of Great
Britain.
The Government has responded to this significant
threat in two ways: by the formation of the pioneering Organised
Crime Task Force for Northern Ireland, and through the proposal
for an Assets Recovery Agency. We welcome the impetus which the
Task Force has provided to joint working between the law enforcement
agencies in Northern Ireland, and look forward to the expansion
of this strategic, co-operative approach.
The proposed Assets Recovery Agency similarly has
the potential to prove considerably disruptive of criminal activity,
both in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. However, comparisons
of the proposal for the Agency with the well-established and respected
Criminal Assets Bureau in the Republic of Ireland suggest that
the current plans for the Agency will leave it substantially under-resourced
for the scale of the problem it is designed to tackle. We believe
that the first few years of the Agency's operation could make
or break its reputation. If the Government wishes the Agency to
be genuinely feared by serious criminals, and supported by the
public, it must provide it with the resources it will need from
its inception.
We also welcome the Government's willingness to accept
the recommendation of our earlier interim report, that individuals
working for the new Agency be provided with the protection of
anonymity where they or their families might otherwise find their
safety threatened. We believe that this will make a significant
contribution to the effectiveness of the Agency and the confidence
of its staff in tackling this difficult problem.
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