Minister McEntee welcomes passage of motion on UAE bilateral treaties

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee TD, today (Wednesday), welcomed the passage of a motion through the Dáil which approves two agreements between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to further improve the effectiveness of their co-operation in fighting organised crime and facilitating extradition.

During a recent formal meeting in Abu Dhabi, Minister McEntee and the UAE Justice Minister His Excellency Abdullah Bin Sultan Bin Awad Al Nuaimi signed both agreements. Over the past number of years, co-operation between Ireland and the UAE on combating transnational organised crime has been stepped up considerably. These treaties cement this successful co-operation and represent a crucial step in intensifying our combined efforts to combat this serious threat.

The treaties align with national legislation on extradition and mutual legal assistance and contain the appropriate safeguards to ensure a high level of protection for human rights.

Welcoming the passage of the motion through the Dáil, Minister McEntee said:

Organised crime groups may think they can evade justice by crossing borders; they cannot. It is essential that they see there can be no hiding place from the law. The Government is taking all necessary steps to dismantle organised crime and the State will do everything in its power to bring those who spread misery in our communities to justice.

This agreement demonstrates firmly our commitment to strengthening judicial co-operation on criminal matters with other countries as part of our efforts to combat this serious global threat and put those at the top of organised crime behind bars.

These treaties say very clearly that, if you have been involved in serious crime, no matter where you go, you cannot evade justice.

The approval of these treaties follows several highly productive in-person negotiating rounds that have taken place between senior Irish officials and their Emirati counterparts, following the opening of negotiations last year.

Minister McEntee added:

I have taken a number of steps to support international policing cooperation, which is crucial to dismantling organising crime gangs who engage in criminal activities such as money laundering, drugs and human trafficking.

In recent years, the United Arab Emirates has proven to be an important partner for An Garda Síochána in advancing criminal investigations in to serious and organised crime. That good operational co-operation builds on the deployment of a Garda Liaison Officer to Abu Dhabi last year on foot of Government's approval of an expansion to the Garda Liaison Network following a request from the Garda Commissioner.