Independent TD Tony Gregory, who raised the issue with Lenihan, told the Sunday Tribune the figure showed the widely held perception that Cab is taking tens of millions of euro from drug dealers is "far from the truth".

He said he was raising the issue not as a criticism of Cab but to find out why the amount raised under the Proceeds of Crime Act has been so low and establish if the bureau's powers or resources were inadequate.

"It is patently obvious that Cab is not the deterrent to drug dealers that it was set up to be, " Gregory said. He has called for a radical review of its modus operandi and the establishment of localised units of Cab concentrated in areas where there is a high level of drug dealing.

The Dublin Central TD said he was among those in the mid-1990s calling for a coordinated Revenue Commissioners/garda/Department of Social Welfare approach to tackle drug dealing and he still believed this was the right approach. "But Cab clearly has to be refocused and reorganised, " he said.

Referring to people involved in supplying or dealing drugs, with no form of legitimate income other than social welfare, who have considerable assets . . . cars, credit cards, "you name it" . . .

Gregory said there was "no determined effort to get at the assets of these people".