Mr. David Hegarty:

Internationally, there is normally a division between competition regulators, financial regulators and the third type of regulator - corporate enforcement regulators. It is important to point out that the ODCE is not a white collar crime agency. To a certain extent, it is not even a corporate crime agency. It is responsible for the enforcement of the Companies Act 2014 which I believe will carry over in head 8 of the new Bill.

Some of the main comparable regulators are the Serious Fraud Office, SFO, in the United Kingdom and the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, in the United States, but they are probably not directly comparable to the regulators in Ireland. The Swedish Economic Crime Authority is a one-size-fits-all organisation.

It employs 600 people and has a budget of €61 million a year. It engages in a broad range of work. The 2016 report talks about prosecuting gross fraud and obstruction of tax inspections, raiding illegal tobacco factories, prosecuting exercise of serious improper market influence, raids regarding unreported employment in the restaurant industry, raids against driver schools and it focuses on tax evasion and false accounting. Other countries have organisations that do different things but that would be an example of a broad range, and much broader than what the ODCE does. In this country, traditionally, the division has been along sectoral lines, if I can put it like that.