British And Irish Governments Promise Joint Action On Criminal Justice

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Brian Lenihan. T.D., and Criminal Justice Minister Paul Goggins MP, met in Dublin to review progress on a range of cross border initiatives. They also agreed with the recommendation by the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive Review Committee's (AERC) that current agreements to enhance co-operation on criminal justice matters should remain in place at the point of devolution. 

Minister Lenihan said: "While we already enjoy excellent working relationships with the criminal justice agencies in the North, I believe that devolution offers every prospect of enhancing that co-operation to the benefit of all law-abiding people, North and South.  Minister Goggins and I will, of course, continue to work to facilitate that transition."

Paul Goggins said, "Devolution should serve to strengthen the close working relationship our criminal justice agencies have built together.  Their work in sharing information, expertise and knowledge is paramount in supporting our communities and tracking down criminals.

"The Inter-Governmental Agreement has already facilitated significant improvement in the work of criminal justice agencies on both sides of the border.  We share the same problems and are addressing the best ways of solving them, together.

"At our meeting today Brian Lenihan and I agreed that we would work together to address the Northern Ireland Assembly recommendation and help ensure that suspects and criminals who seek to beat the law in either of our jurisdictions can find no hiding place."