Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy and new PSNI chief constable Matt Baggott have pledged to deepen cooperation between their organisations in order to confront the "substantial" threat from dissident republicans.
Speaking in Dublin today after his first official meeting with his Garda counterpart, Mr Baggott acknowledged the "serious and real" threat from dissident armed groups and said it was "very helpful" to view that threat as a "criminal enterprise."
"It's a huge mistake to see terrorism as isolated from criminality," he told reporters. "Very often the people involved in this will exploit any weakness and use the cause as an excuse for getting involved in property crime and a whole range of other criminal enterprises, including drugs, which bring misery to our communities."
Mr Baggott, who last week succeeded Sir Hugh Orde as head of the PSNI, was in Dublin to attend an international law enforcement conference on intellectual property crime.
He said the extent of cooperation between the Garda Síochána and the PSNI was "truly impressive" and said the topics under discussion at the conference - counterfeiting and piracy - were relevant to the authorities' efforts against dissidents.
"I think we have to deal with the criminal, not simply the crime. This is an important area where organised crime exploits the vulnerability of families and whole economies. In a time of recession, to have people who are ruthlessly exploiting intellectual crime and counterfeiting is something we have to address."
Commissioner Murphy said he was concerned by the threat from subversive groups and that specialist Garda units had been retained along the border.
"We both see [the threat] as substantial, and it's a problem that has to be addressed, and will be addressed by both our forces working very closely together," he said.
Asked whether specialist units were being diverted from anti-dissident work towards organised crime, Mr Murphy said: "I can put that to rest right now. I have maintained the presence of key specialist units along the border, on our side, working closely with their counterparts in the PSNI."
Co-hosted by Interpol, the third international law enforcement conference on intellectual property crime has attracted more than 350 specialist investigators, prosecutors and experts from across the world.
Addressing delegates this morning, Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble described intellectual property crime as a thriving multi-billion dollar global industry that was closely linked to transnational organised crime. As such, counterfeiting and piracy required a global coordinated response.
While all types of counterfeiting were harmful, "the counterfeiting of medical products is certainly the most cynical and evil form of this type of crime," he said.
"As with other transnational crimes, no single country can effectively fight the production and sale of counterfeit products. The solution must involve all stakeholders - the public and private sectors, international bodies, and non-governmental organizations - at the national and global levels, for counterfeiting is a global menace which law enforcement alone cannot address."
