Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked if anything was not working. The answer is no.

I was asked about the funding for the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE. Its funding has not seen a reduction. There was a return to 26 fortnightly pay periods in 2016, compared to 27 in 2015. Therefore, there was no cut. There was a small reduction in the level of unused ODCE legal costs, which shows up in the figure mentioned by the Deputy. Therefore, the office is sufficiently funded.

The ODCE employs 38.5 staff who include a number of legal and accounting professionals. Three of the five new accounting posts had been filled at the end of May and, in addition, six members of An Garda Síochána have been seconded to the office. The costs associated with the members of An Garda Síochána are met from Vote 20, the Vote for An Garda Síochána. All other staffing, legal administration and information technology support services are funded from Vote 32, subhead C7.

We have sanctioned a major recruitment campaign for the IASSA and the ODCE. We are looking for forensic accountants, but the difficulty is that the pay they receive in the public service is much lower than what they would earn in the private sector. We have a difficulty in that regard.

The Deputy asked me about CCPC funding. It shows sufficiency, but it also allows for the recruitment of more staff. There is significant investment in ICT to allow online transactions for company registrations and work permits to be processed.

The Deputy also asked about the one stop shop and LEOs