Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I do. It is point 4. Members might remember that the Corporate Enforcement Authority, CEA, was to be set up on 1 January this year to replace the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE. One big impediment to the effective running of the ODCE was that there was an inadequate number of gardaí assigned to it. The director had come out and been critical of that. A memorandum of understanding was signed by the Garda and the new CEA. I was given the assurance in the Dáil that would be the case. It says on item 4 that there were to be 16. I understand there are, according to this, seven members assigned. This agency cannot function unless the gardaí are assigned. There are high-profile cases like the one in relation to the FAI and John Delaney, pending a long time, and the one for Independent Newspapers. People lose confidence in an agency if it cannot do its work in a timely way. This agency was to be set up with the appropriate complement of gardaí, who are required because they have the power to arrest, for example. Something may be pending and you can do nothing unless you have the power to arrest.

We need a quarterly report on progress on this recruitment. It should have been ready to go when the new agency was set up. We will be serious about corporate crime or we will not. We end up having to do things retrospectively that cost way more money. There is significant value for money in this. Given the director of the ODCE was so critical of the inadequate number of gardaí and the assurances we have been given, the idea this did not happen from day one is not acceptable. I want a close eye kept on that.