Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I thank Mr. Drennan and his staff for the work that has been done and the progress made in professionalising the area of corporate enforcement. I welcome the changes that are being put into law to give the organisation the status of an independent authority with the ability to recruit staff and have its own strategy, with a stronger collegiate three- or four-member form, or whatever it ends up as.

I have some questions. When the financial crisis hit, it certainly seemed that regulatory failures were not really matched by clear offences and that some of the difficulties in enforcement were due to our laws not having anticipated the sort of abuses that had crept in. From the organisation's perspective, has the 2014 Act fixed that or are there still major areas in which we need clearer or stronger law?

The courts found that the ODCE lacked skills, experience, risk management and various capabilities when the problems arose. Will the control over recruitment, which will be inherent in the new authority, give the organisation the capacity to meet those challenges in a new way?

The third question concerns powers. The witnesses have suggested that there may be a need for more powers for the organisation. Are there powers that should be considered in this particular Bill, as well as the continuing improvement? For example, administrative penalties seem to be a feature of some agencies now and is a new power. Is that something that would be important in any areas of the office's work?

On the issue of the relationship with the Garda, I believe that much closer relationships have been forged now and members have been seconded. Is additional provision in legislation required to ensure that this relationship, which is critical to some of the ODCE's work, is adequately set out?

We all know about the need for surge capacity in other areas of our public service. In the enforcement area, when surge capacity may be needed, for example, in a particularly large case, how does that get catered for in the arrangements the organisation has with the Government?

Do we need to distinguish between the obligations of large companies and the obligations of small companies in the legislative approach? The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, obviously has to make risk-based assessments on when to pursue different requirements. In regard to obligations like reporting and filing, and all these sorts of things, do we need to have different expectations as between some operators and others? Those are my questions.