Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for their work in this area. Like Deputy Mac Lochlainn I have a view, having read the material. I think we should put forward a reasoned opinion on the breach of the principle of subsidiary involved in the setting up of the EPPO. I am very taken with the British House of Commons report. I have a specific question. Looking at the report of the House of Commons and also the justice committee of the Scottish Parliament, which is quoted and which arrived at a particular conclusion, I believe there is a substantive objective issue. I do not know if the witnesses can comment on this because it is a borderline political issue. The conclusion of the Scottish committee quoted by the House of Commons was that the committee did not consider the establishment of the EPPO to be necessary to achieve the stated objective of tackling EU fraud and that it had concerns that the Commission had not explored sufficiently whether action short of a super-national agency would be capable of delivering effective protection against EU financial fraud. There is a suggestion, which the House of Commons did not go into, that more developed co-operation between OLAF and Eurojust could deliver an effective means of protecting against EU financial fraud. Perhaps the witnesses would comment on that issue. There is a certain value judgment but there is an objective issue about whether existing agencies are capable of delivering effective protection against financial fraud at EU level.