Ahern Praises Cross-Border Cooperation

Speaking last week after one of his regular meetings with the North's Criminal Justice Minister, Paul Goggins MP, to review cross-border criminal justice cooperation, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern T.D., expressed his appreciation for the continuing high level of joint working in the criminal justice area.

The Minister stated: "It gives me great satisfaction to see the criminal justice agencies in our two jurisdictions working together so closely. The issues we have to deal with are the same, and it makes sense for us to cooperate in coming up with solutions to deal with them."

Both Ministers welcomed initiatives to further improve co-operation in relation to sex offenders who cross the border in breach of reporting and other requirements.

"This is obviously an issue which concerns us both," said Minister Ahern. "We are determined to ensure that the relevant agencies north and south continue to work together and share relevant information to protect the public from the risk posed by sex offenders who travel in breach of their requirements. It is my intention to look at possible amendments to our legislation in such a way that notification requirements in the two jurisdictions are harmonised."

The Ministers also considered reports of ongoing cooperation in the areas of Youth Justice, Public Protection, Forensic Science and Victim Support, and took the opportunity to outline to each other developments in the criminal justice area in the two jurisdictions. 

In this regard, Minister Ahern updated Minister Goggins on the ongoing work on a new White Paper on Crime and the public consultations informing this process.

In the light of increasing progress towards the devolution of policing and justice responsibility to the Northern Assembly, Minister Ahern thanked Minister Goggins: "I want to pay tribute to Paul for his hard work and goodwill in fostering cooperation in the criminal justice sphere over the last few years. I look forward in due course to enjoying an equally good relationship with a new devolved Justice Minister."