Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Returning to the occasion to which I referred, Mr. Farrell SC stated that the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation had been swamped since 2011 and that of the cases it had reached only one in ten ended in prosecution. Mr. Ian Drennan, at the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, has spoken about having only one forensic accountant when there was need for at least five. There are serious problems, not only in An Garda Síochána but across all of the different agencies. For instance, the CAB's budget was cut by 15% over the period 2008-12. The Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation was cut by 21% over the period 2008-11 while that of the ODCE was cut by 12%. The Government is tying the hands of those who need to be dealing with white collar crime.

I repeat that this type of behaviour brought the State to collapse. It is not the behaviour of those who have not paid their small fines or television licences, who we imprison regularly. It is the behaviour of those who brought us to collapse who know that they will not be imprisoned and will not face fines.

I am aware there was a review. There needs to be an urgent independent reappraisal and analysis of all of the different agencies tasked with it. These include the CAB, the ODCE, the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, the Central Bank, Revenue, the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, NBCI and the Competition Authority. All of them need to be working together. I believe the Garda should have the overall management of that process so that it can, for the first time in the history of the State, properly deal with white collar crime and send a clear signal to those involved in it.

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