Ms Sabha Greene:

That will be a matter for the Government to decide in due course. In the meantime, something that comes out very clearly from the Law Reform Commission is the need for strong co-ordination and co-operation between all of the various bodies. The heads include information exchange provisions on a statutory level. There are existing memorandums of understanding and these will have to be redone because it will be a new authority. We are trying to give it statutory support to ensure there is a clear-cut exchange of information and co-ordination, working on what exists.

In some ways, that is more important than them all being under one umbrella. The Irish model has been to create bodies which specialise in a particular area of law. It does not matter whether the crime is committed by an individual or a corporation, or on a small or grand scale, because the body has expertise in that area of law. For example, we have the Health and Safety Authority and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE. That is how we have been doing it and, to some extent, it has worked. The recommendation of the LRC addresses crimes committed on a big scale by a large corporation. One may not realise the offence is a big deal when one begins an investigation of what one considers likely to be a small fraud. There are questions regarding the stage at which the investigation is escalated to another body. These issues must be teased out in considering the recommendations. It would be a change from our current model of enforcement.