Willie Hay concerned PSNI does not have enough resources to tackle cross-border organised crime

The DUP grandee noted PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher’s frequent references to a limited police budget.

He was speaking in the British House of Lords as peers debated the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Search, Seizure and Detention of Property: Code of Practice) (Northern Ireland) Order 2024 on Monday.

The statutory instrument introduces a new search, seizure and detention of property code of practice for the North in order to ensure powers are applied consistently and proportionately.

The new legislation comes in the wake of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

This, said Minister of State for the Home Office David Hanson, ‘introduced reforms to keep pace with the use of emerging technologies to launder money and commit economic crime, including a new regime to tackle the use of criminal or terrorist crypto assets’.

Equally, it introduced ‘new search, seizure and detention powers when crypto assets are used illegally or for terrorist purposes’, he told the House of Lords.

Speaking at Westminster the former Assembly Speaker said he welcomed the statutory instrument but added that he was worried about resources.

"You will continue to hear the chief constable of Northern Ireland talk about the lack of resources. With these new powers, there certainly need to be additional resources.

“As a former Minister in Northern Ireland, the Minister will be aware that these criminal gangs sometimes work fairly freely, not only in Northern Ireland but across the border.

"These criminal gangs will have all the resources they need to do what they are doing. Unfortunately, the different agencies that have to deal with them do not have the resources to do what they need to do.

"That is more of a worry than anything else. I keep coming back to the chief constable: most times when he is interviewed, he says, ‘No, I don’t have the resources within policing to do what needs to be done’,” he stated.

Responding to the DUP peer’s concerns about cross-border activity the minister said there had not been ‘any formal consultation with the Irish Government on these powers because they are for the Northern Ireland Assembly, under the joint leadership of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister, the Justice Minister and the Home Office, under the leadership of my right honourable friend the Home Secretary’.

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"I believe they are not areas that would cause concern as they are entirely matters for within the confines of the United Kingdom, with different responsibilities between the two different agencies,” he said.

Lord Hay of Ballyore said the new powers were ‘certainly welcome’.

"Anything that stifles the criminal gangs in Northern Ireland or elsewhere has to be welcome,” he told peers on Monday.

Supporters of the legislation included Edward Mowbray Nicholas Howard, who said it ‘brings into operation a revised code of practice relating to the search, detention and seizure of property in Northern Ireland, making it easier for the police there to take control of and recover crypto assets under the powers in Part 4 of the Proceeds of Crime Act’.

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