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Updated 4.21 pm
MINISTER CHARLIE FLANAGAN is rejecting allegations that border fuel smugglers are not being targeted because of fears doing so would hurt the peace process.
The Foreign Affairs Minister was speaking after a North-South meeting which suggested a specialised force to fight organised crime along the border
The British Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA) said it is “alarmed” by the scale of laundering plants in border areas after a policing report was published today.
The BIPA report comes a week after Sinn Féin TD Padriag MacLochlainn received a reply from An Garda Síochána aboout the issue of crime in border areas.
The deputy had written to gardaí following a series of articles in the Sunday Independent alleging the involvement of the Provisional IRA in the fuel smuggling trade.
The response from the commissioner’s secretary said that gardaí “hold no evidence” that the IRA retain a military structure and are engaged in criminality.
The note does not that former members may be engaged with crime for personal gain.
Following the response, an opinion piece in yesterday’s edition of the paper suggested that the garda letter “should have been stamped, ‘written under duress of peace process’.”
Speaking this afternoon, Flanagan rejected a the suggestion that a “blind-eye” is being turned to republican activity in border areas.
“I reject any suggestion that there is anything but, A) the fullest co-operation between the gardaí and the PSNI and B) a resolve to bring those responsible to justice,” he said.
The minister also said that he ‘doesn’t have any evidence’ that the proceeds from fuel smuggling have made their way into the political process.
Border patrol
A policing report detailed how many of these fuel laundering plants are operated automatically, making it difficult for police to catch perpetrators.
The report outlines that such plants were often based in remote areas, making then difficult to police, but that this has changed more recently with plants found in Dublin and Waterford.
The proposed new task force would be both permanent and full-time with a sole focus on border criminals.
Similar task forces involving agencies from both the Republic and Northern Ireland have been formed to investigate the issues of fuel laundering and cigarette smuggling.
The idea is that the new force would build on this to form a single cohesive unit to fight against gangs operating on the border.
The BIP report also describes how numerous criminal gangs involved in smuggling often now work in partnership with each other.
“Even more troubling was the link between these organised crime gangs and dissident groups who heavily depended on organised crime to fund their terrorist activities,” the report found.
It’s also being recommended that filling station operators convicted of selling illegal fuel cannot cannot simply reopen again after a few weeks, as happens at present. It also called for longer sentences for offenders.
Consumers who have knowingly bought illegal commodities, smuggled cigarettes for example, should also be subjected to on-the-spot fines BIPA.
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It’s amazing when a union acts worse then the worst employers… they should all leave or hold back their dues..
@Dan: there you have it Dan, when a union becomes a business it acts in protectionist ways. Always thought that type of transfer policy was contrary to freedom of association.
@Greg Blake: siptu aren’t a union, they’re a business. It’s all about the money for them.
You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave…
Honestly best thing I ever did was get out of the Teeu. Went on strike at there request lost a week’s wages for nothing, applied for strike pay refused. And when I rang to cancel my membership they told me that they were close to securing a pay rise country the promptly hung up the phone when I told them I was made redundant and a subbie is doing my job for 17 Euro and hour cash in hand, didn’t even try and help.
Really hope the unions get taken to task using GDPR.
Best of luck to those trying to use the GDPR for this, let’s hope the thread of a heavy fime wil get them to act. Clearly bad press doe not.
Also why does the goverment allow a cartel? I think some of our goverment agencies should look into this behavior.
Esb is a pension provider who just happen to provide electricity
@Bill Clear: and they do a fantastic job of that. Apart from power cuts did you ever get cut off during a strike? In fact they’re one of the best run state companies. Compare that to Irish Water or Eir back when it was eircom and state owned.
Is all of this Union scheming, manoeuvering and intrigue carried out during worker’s personal time or on company time ultimately paid for by the hard-pressed electricity provider’s customers?
A union official with out a full face beard!? Straight away something fishy there.
The TEEU are a joke no problems in taking your money but come up with excuses when you look for help. left them years ago when I met an official from the union who wanted us to go on strike without any funding from them and he left the meeting in a 60k BMW.
Sorry I ended up on the wrong page…….continue what your talking about apologize xxx
With Connect union- Wasting my fiver every week- it’s time we acted /
Shouldn’t they just request it under GDPR?
It could be worst. catch 23 even.
Absolutely useless. The TEEU sent a lad out to speak to us few years ago as apprentices, we were getting rode by the company doing overtime every day plus every Saturday for months at flat rate of pay. Our boss had a heads up they were coming, pulled us into a boiler room and flat out told us to lie and say we were paid correctly plus travel money etc. Under threat of losing our jobs during the recession. The union rep came out and asked us about the pay in front of our boss and foreman so we all meekly nodded and said what we were told to say. He decided this was grand and headed off never to be heard from again. They also send me out letters every so often after I’ve been unemployed looking for various amounts of money in unpaid subs while on the dole
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