Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree 100%. To go into that with my next line of questioning, we see that the trends are increasing. More people are being scammed and the value of the scams is increasing. When we get the 2020 and 2023 results, it is likely to have gone in the same direction. In the meantime, we do not have a national strategy for combating economic crime. It is just batshit crazy that 4,000 people were scammed out of €16.8 million in 2021 - which they did not get back from the banks - and we do not have a national strategy for combating economic crime, despite the fact that the Department of Justice told us that quarter 1 of 2021 would be its target for submitting such a multi-annual strategy and action plan. Does Ms Davenport have any understanding of why there is such a delay in the Department of Justice - which, again, we are calling before this committee - developing a strategy on an issue that is out of control? I looked at the strategy in Britain, which is on its second strategy, and it is running to more than 100 pages. I know that strategy is not based on pages, but the Department is two years late. Does Ms Davenport have any understanding when we are likely to see this? Why have we not had urgency from the Government regarding the existing and growing threat of fraud and, in particular, APP fraud?