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

I will share my time with other Fine Gael speakers. Is the Government happy at this stage that we have clear offences across all the headings? I know some will not be in company law and there are others in regard to banking restrictions, financial regulations and so on. One of the features of the financial crisis was that the law was not sufficiently specific, the burdens of proof were often wrongly placed and it was difficult to get prosecutions. Having had a lot of review of the legislation, are we in a robust position at this point?

The second question is a follow-up to Deputy Louise O'Reilly’s question. We heard last week that when a witness is being cross-examined, it can only be done by gardaí and the experts have to sit outside the room. People move to and fro and the cross-examining garda has to come out, listen to the comments and go back in. As all of that is against a time-limited cross-examination, it can create problems. Is that one of the things that will be changed?

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement explained that after the financial crisis, the number of liquidations went up to 1,400 per year and then came back down to 400. There is obviously a concern now that we would see another increase in liquidations. I understand that will pose questions for the ODCE in terms of making sure that all of those liquidations are done in a robust way. However, on the wider front, what progress has been made in regard to efforts to have a quicker and easier form of examinership that might avoid a rush of liquidations in cases where, perhaps, adjustment of some of the creditors’ commitments could keep that company viable?