The savage assault last week on Quinn Industrial Holdings executive, Mr. Kevin Lunney, has both shocked and angered people across the country. The savagery and inhumanity involved reveal the continued existence of a minority criminal underground across the Border region that acts with impunity beyond the law, undermining the rights of the vast majority of decent and law-abiding citizens in the region. This assault on Mr. Lunney is the latest in a long series of attacks, including arson, intimidation, murder threats, destruction of property and endangerment to workers since 2011. It is worth reminding the House that in this region in recent years, two gardaí, Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe and Garda Tony Golden, were murdered in 2013 and 2015, respectively. These criminals have no respect for State authorities or the law and they operate in a twilight zone of their own with savagery and murderous intent.

When I heard of this savage assault on Mr. Kevin Lunney and the circumstances surrounding it, my mind went back to the savage murder of Mr. Paul Quinn in October 2007. He was a young lad who was lured into a barn. I subsequently met his parents, Stephen and Breege, and their campaign for justice has continued. They were in no doubt at that time who was responsible for the murder of their son. They blamed the IRA at that stage. I am not connecting that to who is responsible for the attack on Mr. Kevin Lunney but the nature and similarity of the attack is the point of comparison. In Mr. Quinn's case, a team of approximately 15 people was involved in the murder, and he too was lured to an isolated barn. Six or seven individuals clad in overalls and surgical gloves beat him to death; they were trying to avoid leaving forensic clues. His mother said to me: "They broke every bone in my son's body." If we fast-forward some years later, groups of people are again trying to avoid leaving forensic clues, getting a person into an isolated location and beating him almost to death.

There is a terrible legacy in the Border region and we must face up to it. These acts did not stop after the Good Friday Agreement and certain paramilitary elements have carried on regardless in enforcing for and protecting a criminal financial empire. Operation Loft, which was undertaken by the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, in 2015 revealed a paramilitary financial empire of up to €70 million per annum with approximately €500 million in assets. The 2018 cross-Border threat assessment prepared jointly by the Garda and Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI, estimated that 43% of organised crime gangs in Northern Ireland have a cross-Border dimension.

The time has come for both the British and Irish Governments, as well as the Northern Ireland authorities when they return, to establish a statutory cross-Border multidisciplinary agency with a specific budget and personnel to once and for all root this evil out of the Border region.

Hear, hear.

It needs teeth and resources. Task forces will not cut it any more. People have had enough and they want to go about their daily lives in business and their jobs without this threat, ongoing fear and intimidation. It has gone on for far too long. Will the Government give consideration to the establishment of such an agency?

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I was horrified to hear about the attack on Mr. Kevin Lunney, a decent, hard-working man whom I have known for many years. As a director of the Quinn group of companies, he supports the employment of more than 800 people in the Ballyconnell area. It is important that people should be able to go to and return from work without this type of horrific intimidation. What happened to him was absolutely outrageous. My thoughts remain with his family and friends and I wish him a full and speedy recovery. Of course, I urge anybody with information to come forward to An Garda Síochána. I am assured a full criminal investigation is under way.

I worked in Ballyconnell for many years and I am familiar with that part of the country. As a local Deputy and member of the Government, I stand behind the workers and with the directors of the company. They are Mr. John McCartin, Mr. Dara O'Reilly, Mr. Liam McCaffrey, Mr. Kevin Lunney and the plant manager, who is Kevin's brother, Mr. Tony Lunney. We will ensure the necessary resources are in place to bring to justice the perpetrators of this absolutely horrific attack. On a personal level, when I first heard about this, I was terribly upset to think a human could do this to another human. It was absolutely awful.

It is abundantly clear that these criminals are not supported by the communities in the region. Deputies will appreciate I am limited in what I can say about the incident, given that it is the subject of a significant investigation by both the PSNI and the Garda Síochána. In Cavan last week, Deputy Garda Commissioner John Twomey stated that every resource and the full weight of the Garda Síochána and its specialist units have been placed at the disposal of gardaí in Cavan. Both the Garda Síochána and the PSNI are conducting a major inquiry into this incident and they are determined to find those responsible. Deputies will have heard the Garda Commissioner during his appearance before the justice committee here last week speaking of the ongoing close co-operation between the Garda and the PSNI in response to this horrific attack. He confirmed the determination to bring these perpetrators to justice. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charles Flanagan, and the Garda Commissioner are in Cavan today attending a cross-Border conference. The Minister plans to visit Quinn Industrial Holdings headquarters just outside Ballyconnell.

The Deputy spoke about setting up a task force.

No, not a task force.

Apologies. It was a special statutory body. It is something to which the Government will give consideration. There is currently a task force in place to tackle cross-Border crime. The joint agency task force was established by the Fresh Start agreement and it is led by senior officials from An Garda Síochána, the PSNI, the Revenue Commissioners and people from revenue and customs services in Northern Ireland. CAB and the National Crime Agency have also been involved. The Minister will address the task force today.

In 2015, Deputy Brendan Smith produced legislation with others in this House to set up a statutory agency drawing from the Revenue Commissioners, the police and environmental organisations to deal with the corrosive impact of fuel laundering and cigarette smuggling, which has been felt in the Border region for so long.

The Government at the time opposed the legislation but took elements of it by way of the Fresh Start agreement and a task force. However, it will no longer cut it. The point made in my presentation was this has gone on for decades at this stage. The existing operation is not working. The PSNI and An Garda Síochána co-operate well in tackling paramilitary violence and foiling bomb attacks and so on but, fundamentally, there is an alternative world in the Border region. There is considerable fear and a culture of omerta across the region which has its roots in the corrosive legacy of violence which has been ongoing for 30 or 40 years. It did not stop after the Good Friday Agreement. People have empires there. The murder of Veronica Guerin sparked the establishment of the Criminal Assets Bureau. I was in this House at the time when Fianna Fáil produced the relevant legislation while in opposition because the murder demanded such a response. The assault on Kevin Lunney is the last straw. We must provide protection and quality of life for people in the region and its economy. We must safeguard their livelihoods and provide pathways to attract investment. Above all, we must protect human life and property. That is why a statutory agency is needed. We are going to reintroduce the legislation. I want the Minister to go back to the Taoiseach and the Government for them to have an open mind, with a view to working to establish such a statutory cross-Border agency to, once and for all, take on the thugs and criminals and send the message that the only authority is that of democratic law and order and that no other will rule or reign on any part of the island.

Like Deputy Brendan Smith, I am well aware of the issues at the Border. This type of behaviour is totally unacceptable and puts fear into the heart of everybody. The Deputy mentioned Mr. Paul Quinn. I drove past an area not far from where he was tortured not too long ago and somebody pointed out to me the spot at which Mr. Quinn had been killed. It puts the hair standing on the back of one's neck thinking what happens to people and what happened to Mr. Kevin Lunney. So bad was it, it is hard to describe, or even to think about, what they did to him. It was horrific. Every effort is being made to ensure the criminals are brought to justice.

The issue of a statutory body was raised again by Deputy Micheál Martin. I will raise the matter with the Minister for Justice and Equality, but there is a very good cross-Border task force in place. I must say the PSNI and An Garda Síochána are working together and that all necessary resources are being put into investigating the case to bring the criminals to justice, ensure it will not happen again and stamp out this type of behaviour on the Border.