Mr. Ian Drennan:

The first thing I would like to do is to make an observation on the Chair's comment that there is a perception that people who wear suits are not punished for crime or whatever the case may be. What I would say in response to that is that in the last couple of years, we have submitted files to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, who has in turn directed charges, including fraudulent trading, theft and money laundering against individuals who were the subject of investigations in this office. I do not think that one has to wear a suit to engage in criminality under the broad rubric of white-collar crime and, frankly, we do not really care what people are wearing. We have carried out thorough investigations and have submitted them to the DPP and she in turn has deemed it appropriate to prefer very serious charges against those individuals.

On the Chair's question on whether we have enough resources, I refer to the response given to Deputy O'Reilly. The Deputy asked me for details of the additional investigative resources that we have indicated to the Department we believe would be appropriate in trying to assist this entity in realising the vision set for it. Clearly, there are political decisions as to whether those additional resources are granted. In the event they are granted, one would expect the additional resources to discharge the salaries and associate costs that go with those resources would be forthcoming and, similarly, with the members of An Garda Síochána I referenced in my response to Deputy O'Reilly. There is not much more I can say about that.

The Chair sought further information on barriers we see as being potentially problematic in progressing investigations and what they might be. Again, I reference some of what we have previously said during the course of the interaction. I spoke about custody regulations to Deputy Stanton but apologies if that was not to whom I was speaking. Mr. McGill spoke about warrants and the information technology aspects of those. Ms Gunn earlier on spoke about the privacy issues emanating from the Supreme Court judgment in CRH v. Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the constitutional right to privacy and how that interacts. There is a tension between it and criminal investigation.

We shared with the committee our observations as to how those issues might be dealt with. Finally, the Chairman asked about the membership and size of the authority but that is a policy matter upon which it would not be appropriate for me to comment.