Cabinet bid to pass four Bills on organised crime today

THE Dail is being recalled for a special 10 hour sitting today to debate five Bills dealing with organised crime.

The Cabinet put the finishing touches to its anti crime package at yesterday's meeting and hopes four Bills can be passed by the Dail by tonight.

The Disclosure of Certain Information for Taxation and Other Purposes Bill was published yesterday to facilitate a freer flow of information from the Revenue Commissioners to gardai in certain cases.

The Bill will also allow the Minister to make an order obliging members of professional bodies to report suspicious money transactions. It also allows authorised Revenue officials to conceal their identities, by not putting their names on certain court documents, and by giving evidence to a judge while hidden from other people in court.

The Government will also publish the Criminal Assets Bureau Bill today to establish an independent agency on a statutory basis comprising members of the Garda, Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Welfare. It is not intended, however, to pass this Bill today.

As the Government prepared for the emergency crime debate promised after the murder of journalist, Ms Veronica Guerin, the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, said the public should not be misled into believing there was any great crime package being enacted today.

He was glad, nonetheless, that at long last the Government seemed to be converted to action rather than vague promises "although we have some distance to go before we see what has been promised put into effect".

Fianna Fail suggested another 10 measures which needed to be taken quickly to fight the crime problem, Mr Ahern continued. These included reform of the Criminal Procedure Act to guarantee trials within 90 days of arrest, the establishment of a formal witness protection programme and a 10 year minimum sentence for people caught with controlled drugs with a street value of £10,000 or more.

He also called for Criminal Court sittings throughout the year and permanent sittings of three divisions of the Central Criminal Court and five divisions of the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

The Progressive Democrats spokesman on finance, Mr Michael McDowell, gave notice last night that he would be tabling an amendment to the Disclosure of Certain Information for Taxation and Other Purposes Bill today to permit the reopening of tax amnesty cases where there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the monies laundered through the amnesty were the proceeds of crime.