John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

As the Deputy is aware, I appointed a new chairperson, Professor Niamh Brennan, to take control of the authority. She was instrumental in producing two reports which demonstrated exactly what had happened in the Dublin docklands. Recently I spoke to board members who feel the authority is now finding its feet again and I hope it will be in a position to do some very good work for the community.

As the Deputy knows, this legislation was not introduced by this Government but rather by my constituency colleague, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. The idea behind it is good and it has provided some good employment in the area and has done some very good community work. I hope that under the stewardship of Professor Niamh Brennan the docklands authority can improve its financial position. It faces enormous difficulties and there are ongoing problems.

I have always indicated to Deputy Hogan that there are difficulties in this country in tackling white-collar crime. This includes people who have abused their positions. I am aware of the individuals who the Deputy may be referring to in this case and I believe our legislation is not strong enough. We must improve and we are going to ensure we can have more effective whistleblower legislation to identify problems in the first instance. There should also be strong legislation to ensure that those who engage in white-collar criminality can be brought to justice as quickly as possible.

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