What recent assessment he has had made of the involvement of republican paramilitary groups in drug-related crime in Northern Ireland.

The Independent Monitoring Commission has confirmed that dissident republican groups are involved in drug-related crime. The PSNI will continue to work with the other members of the organised crime task force to disrupt their criminal activities.

But of course the majority of dissident republicans used to be members of the Provisional IRA, which gained most of its money from extortion and other criminal activity while it carried out murder and terrorism. The Provisional IRA was inextricably linked to Sinn Fein, which now has Ministers in the Northern Ireland Government. Does the Minister believe that Sinn Fein ever benefited from criminal money and drug-related crime? What is his assessment of whether it still has connections with drug-related crime and other criminal activity?

The people and political parties of Northern Ireland have moved on from the days described by the hon. Gentleman. It is very important that people are able to move on from the grip of fear that dissident republican groups are attempting to deploy across the communities of Northern Ireland. One of the especially despicable things that dissident republican organisations are involved in is the extortion of money from drug dealers. In many cases, they use extreme violence but at the same time they pretend to protect communities from those who deal in drugs. It is absolutely essential that we deal with those dissidents, bring them to justice and make sure that they pay the price for their heinous crimes.

Locals in south Armagh boast that it is one of the biggest oil-producing areas of the world—not because of its geological features but because republicans smuggle and launder fuel there. Millions of pounds are lost to Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue, damage is done to the environment and violence is committed to support that criminal empire, but even so very few people have been arrested and very few assets seized. Will the Minister say when we shall see an all-out assault by the police, HMRC and the Serious Organised Crime Agency against those criminals?

We are putting that all-out assault firmly in place. Last year, I established a fuel fraud enforcement group, with the co-operation and active involvement of law enforcement agencies in Ireland as well as in Northern Ireland. Since then, there have been a number of arrests, as well as widespread seizures of equipment, cash and illegal fuel. The hon. Gentleman is right that these groups are intent on raising money to support their terrorist activity. They absolutely have to be stopped and I am determined, with partners in the organised crime task force, to do exactly that.