McKenna, Felix J.; Egan, Kate --- "Ireland: The Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Proceeds of Crime" [2009] ELECD 219; in Young, N.M. Simon (ed), "Civil Forfeiture of Criminal Property" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: Civil Forfeiture of Criminal Property

Editor(s): Young, N.M. Simon

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847208262

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: Ireland: The Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Proceeds of Crime

Author(s): McKenna, Felix J.; Egan, Kate

Number of pages: 41

Extract:

3. Ireland: a multi-disciplinary approach
to proceeds of crime
Felix J. McKenna and Kate Egan*
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
There never was a cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:
At whatever time the deed took place ­
MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
T. S. Elliot1


INTRODUCTION
Civil forfeiture was introduced to Ireland in the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996
(hereinafter 1996 Act), as part of the infamous `Summer Crime Package' of
that year. The drug problem, from a Garda Síochána (police) perspective,2 can
be traced back to the 1960s when the misuse of amphetamines became wide-
spread, particularly in Dublin.3 By the 1990s, organized criminal gangs
involved in drug trafficking had started to engage in `gangland murders' to
protect their trade. Public alarm at the apparent rise in serious crime reached


* Substantial parts of this chapter were published previously in Fachtna Murphy
and Barry Galvin, `Targeting the financial wealth of criminals in Ireland: the law and
practice' in J. P. McCutcheon and D. Walsh (eds) (1999), The Confiscation of Criminal
Assets: Law and Procedure, Dublin, Ireland: Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, pp. 9­35,
and are reproduced here with the permission of the authors of that piece.
1 From `Macavity ­ the Mystery Cat', a poem by T. S. Elliot, quoted by
O'Higgins J in Murphy v. GM PB PC Ltd. and GH, unreported, High Court, 4 June
1999; aff'd [2001] 4 ...