Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last night the House debated a Sinn Féin motion on the tracker mortgage scandal, with strong words coming from Members on all sides of the House condemning the banks' activities. Is it the Government's intention to bring forward legislation to beef up our laws to deal with white collar crime? In 2010, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement made a submission to the Department of Justice and Equality seeking such a strengthening of the laws. Some of its recommendations have not been enacted. As I noted last night, the former Financial Regulator told the Committee of Public Accounts that our laws are inadequate to hold individuals accountable. As recently as last year, the Law Reform Commission published an issues paper on white collar crime setting out a number of recommendations. Will the Government send a clear signal to bankers and others who are involved in white collar crime that their day is over and we will be beefing up our legislation to deal with such activities?

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