Member

Thirdly, what level of co-operation exists between us and, for instance, the European Union, the United States and other international bodies? These are worldwide crimes; they are not confined to any one country and there is a big international element to this. We could be doing joint operations between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Of course, HMRC has already pursued with the Irish authorities smugglers engaged in fuel laundering and so on, but, for these sorts of crimes, what level of co-operation exists between the authorities on both sides of the border, given that we have this division between devolved institutions and national bodies and additional communication and co-ordination are therefore required?