Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

In the midst of economic turmoil, which at the very least jeopardises the sovereignty of the country and forces our citizens to work for many years to repay the losses caused by corporate greed, it is timely and opportune that the Minister should lay the Bill before the House. I commend him on that.

In recent years we have relayed tales of events which one would expect from a financial system which was unregulated and without any element of a social conscience, a system in which suspicious activities have been carried out by some of those in charge of financial institutions. In order to recover from the predicament not only must our economic situation be rectified but also those who are suspected of having partaken in criminal activities which have brought this peril upon the country must in the first instance at the very least be fully investigated. There must be accountability.

I welcome the Minister's bravery and courage in proposing the legislation which provides for increased investigative powers. As Deputy Jim Daly indicated, many of our constituents have a view that those at the head of financial institutions are immune from prosecution. They see them fleeing the country to escape the consequences of their actions. They see them reaping bonuses from plundering the future of our children at a time when those same financial institutions pursue through the courts ordinary citizens who because they are now unemployed are struggling to pay their debts. It is wrong that the banks in particular are pursuing people. It is immoral and it must stop. Those at the head of our banking institutions who brought this economic peril upon our citizens must be held to account. There can be no ambiguity or obfuscation. There must be justice on behalf of the ordinary citizen. One of our duties as public representatives is to ensure that the State's legal procedures and processes are just and equitable. Those processes do not appear to be either fair, equitable or just to the ordinary citizen and to many in this House.

In proposing the Bill the Minister is again fulfilling a commitment in the programme for Government to ensure that white collar criminals are held to account and to restore the faith of the people in an equitable system of justice. The Bill is timely, welcome and important. A white collar criminal is just like any other criminal and should be dealt with in the same way and with the same degree of efficiency. Just because physical force or violence is not used does not mean that people are not injured. They are injured. The white collar criminal is categorised by deceit and concealment. Such criminals perpetrates a breach of trust to gain personal or commercial advantage at the expense of those whom they exploit and also in the manner in which they exploit wider society.

The proposed legislation will help to make the investigation of white collar crime more efficient and effective. I hope its presence on the Statute Book will go a long way towards preventing a recurrence of the actions of bank executives in the main of which unfortunately we are now aware. It would be wrong to highlight just bank executives but given the current climate it is important that we refer to them. We note the words of the DPP and the Master of the High Court. The ordinary citizen requires Government and those in charge of the criminal justice procedures to act on their behalf. Not to do so would be wrong and would be a breach of the trust they have been given on behalf of the State.

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