Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

As the Deputy is aware, the DPP is entirely independent in his function. It would be completely inappropriate for me, as Minister, to communicate about these matters directly to him. I understand and appreciate that the investigation is extremely complex and a substantial amount of documentation has had to be accessed and considered.

It is unfortunate that we did not reform our laws in these areas some years ago to provide for better and more efficient procedures to facilitate the Garda in the investigation of white collar crime and, in particular, to facilitate the Garda in the investigation of complex financial matters which give rise to this level of documentation. I trust the Bill I intend to publish will provide assistance to future such investigations, but, as it will be essentially a Bill of a procedural nature, it may also, if this investigation has not concluded by the time of its enactment, further accelerate completion of the outstanding investigations into the banking issues.

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