Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that this topical issue has been chosen. Following several parliamentary questions and some media attention on the matter, statistics from the CSO show that there has been a significant drop in the number of convictions for white collar crime since 2003. Given everything that has happened over those years, I find it disturbing and have raised this as a topical issue because the people deserve an answer as to why this has happened and an assurance that people who engage in white collar crime are pursued and punished with the full force of the law.

The statistics provided by the CSO show that for a certain number of white collar crimes, specifically fraud, deception and false pretence offences, falsification of accounts, offences under the Companies Act, offences under the Investment Intermediaries Act, offences under the Stock Exchange Act, moneylaundering, embezzlement, fraud against the European Union and corruption involving public officeholders, the conviction rate has halved over the past decade.

I am sure the Minister will agree this is alarming. He may say there is a discrepancy in the way crimes are recorded and that there may be a time lag but I do not believe this argument stands up. Even after one takes this into account, it still does not explain why the conviction rate has fallen so much in seven years. For example, the average conviction rate for the three years to 2010 is less than half the conviction rate in 2004.

An article in The Sunday Business Post in early October put it in even blunter terms in that almost nine out of every ten white collar crimes committed in Ireland in recent years failed to result in a conviction. It went on to show, based on these figures, that white collar crime is growing in Ireland but convictions are falling. Again, I must stress that the average conviction rate for the three years to 2010 was less than half of what it was in 2004. This needs to be tackled urgently.

As the Minister knows, the people are seething that so much white collar crime goes unpunished while, at the same time, ordinary criminals go to prison for stealing from supermarkets and for burglaries. I put it to the Minister that it would be very good for the public and for our democracy for it to be shown that white collar crime is pursued and punished with the same rigor of the law as any other form of theft or crime. From these figures, it is clear that this is not happening.

We cannot have one law for the rich and another for the poor. I know the Minister for Justice and Equality agrees with this general contention of mine and I welcome the fact he recently ushered in new legislation to strengthen the hand of the Garda in tackling white collar crime. I also know that we, as legislators, cannot interfere with the Office the Director of Public Prosecutions or the operation of the courts but for the sake of justice and to re-establish faith in our judicial system, we must see greater levels of conviction for white collar crime.

When one thinks about it, if the conviction rate for other forms of crime was as low as it is for white collar crime, there would most likely be anarchy on the streets with criminals running entire areas at a whim. Is it any wonder that Ireland was described as the wild west of European finance during the bubble? Based on these figures, it should not surprise anyone. Let us put an end to this and ensure that those who commit white collar crime are in fear of the law, are pursued by the law and punished by the law just as every other criminal should be.

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