Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

Many economic analysts point to the mistakes made in the financial sector as the source of the current world economic crisis. As far as Ireland is concerned, it is clear that mistakes were made and the Irish banking system has endured an unprecedented crisis. What is essential now is that we learn from those mistakes and take the necessary actions to repair the damage.

The Government has responded forcibly and decisively to this challenging position. It is succeeding in rebuilding our domestic banking sector. We now have a fuller understanding of what went wrong and have identified the deficiencies within our regulatory system. We now know the extent of the losses in our banks and the scale of the damage that has been done by the excessive lending and bad practices of recent years. We now have in place a unified and more stringent financial regulatory structure of international standing, which is critically important.

As regards the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, and its investigations, the ODCE was set up in 2001 as an independent body to encourage compliance with the companies Acts, to investigate suspected breaches of company law and duty and to take enforcement action where appropriate. In early January 2009, shortly after the resignation of the chairman and chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank, following the bank's acknowledgement of undisclosed bank director loans, the Director of Corporate Enforcement, using his powers under the companies Acts, directed Anglo to produce certain documents. When it later emerged that Anglo had provided loans in 2008 to the so-called Maple 10 to purchase Anglo's own shares, the director authorised three of his officers in February 2009 to obtain from the District Court three search warrants under the companies Acts. These were promptly executed at Anglo premises with the support of officers from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.

The director has since exercised other legal powers which he possesses to further his investigations. In short, the director and his staff have been very active in dealing with the events which came to public attention at Anglo. The Anglo investigation is a massive and complex one; the largest ever undertaken by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Garda Síochána have acquired several million individual documents from Anglo and other parties. As recently indicated by the Garda Commissioner, up to 400 statements have been taken at this stage, some of which are more than 100 typed pages in length. The Director of Corporate Enforcement publicly indicated some months ago that he expected his investigations of suspected company law breaches at Anglo to be substantially completed by the end of this year. This timetable remains on target.

The Garda Commissioner recently made a similar public statement in respect of the investigations being undertaken by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation into various matters at Anglo, including in particular the back-to-back deposit arrangement entered into with Irish Life & Permanent in late September 2008. The Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Garda Commissioner are independent investigating authorities and have been working closely.

No politician or anyone else can interfere with these investigations. We must let them take their course. If I have learned one thing in this House - this matter was also referred to by Deputy Noonan - it is that when politics and justice collide we lose. I urge people when commenting publicly to be conscious of the fact that these independent investigations are ongoing. It would be remiss of us to speak blandly in this House on the need for retribution and so on because naming individuals and entering into specifics could damage investigations as they progress. I urge everybody concerned, when being interviewed or when speaking publicly or in this House, to ensure their utterances are considered and appropriate. It is important they understand the independence of the prosecuting authorities in the context of their establishment under the Constitution and by way of legislation passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.

Many Deputies made comparisons between our situation and that in the United States. Public comment on the time taken to investigate white collar crime in Ireland makes frequent reference to the position in the US where investigations are said to be concluded quicker. As stated by the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, no one has been indicted in the US arising from the collapse of Lehman's over two years ago. It is true that Mr. Madoff was successfully prosecuted in recent years for operating a Ponzi-type scheme, but he pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain and did not defend any charges. Moreover, he was not involved in banking.

As outlined by previous speakers, independent investigations are ongoing. We in this House have a duty, even though we would like to see particular actions being taken, not to interfere in that process and to allow justice take its course.

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