Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is a low blow to citizens in the country, especially to people who lost their jobs, businesses or homes as a consequence of the goings on in Anglo Irish Bank. It is fair to say that white-collar crime is not taken seriously in this country. I believe the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has never really wanted the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. It has always been something of a holding job rather than a thorough job. Consideration now has to be given, as it was at the time of the murder of Veronica Guerin, to the establishment of a criminal assets bureau for white-collar crime. Nothing less will address the situation. It must be seriously resourced, robust in its attitude and willing to take on all comers in respect of white-collar crime. That is the only way it can address the devastation, loss and cost that such crime means for the rest of society.

The basic difference or distinction between gathering evidence for a civil case and gathering evidence for a criminal case appears to be at the heart of what went wrong in this regard, in addition to the shredding of documents. The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is part of the permanent Civil Service. Ministers do not have day-to-day contact with officials in a quasi-independent autonomous section of the Department. Did no one in the Department shout stop? My colleague, Deputy Howlin, brought in whistleblowers legislation, which has changed all of that. Where are the people in the Department who have come forward and advised the Minister? I believe that all those involved in this shambles need to seriously consider their positions.

By whom will this report be carried out? The Minister should not tell me that it will be by one of the officials in the Department. I do not believe that would be acceptable to anyone in the Dáil. I hope the Minister tells me it will be done by someone who is competent and who has the relevant expertise, maturity and experience. The people who have handled this from the Department's side appear to have been people who probably were very good but whose experience all related to civil litigation and who seemed to have little or no experience with criminal prosecution. The cost of this to Irish society is severe.

I listened to Deputy Pearse Doherty. I recall that Deputy Doherty was one of the people who voted for the bank guarantee. He was proud to do that and he told us what a good fix it was for the people. People are gutted by what has happened with regard to this trial. It would seem now that the legal insiders were aware, by and large, that a second trial would have had little chance of success.

I have seen the advertisements against social welfare fraud put on the buses by my successor in the Department of Social Protection. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is listed as one of his supporters in the current discussions within her party. Will the Minister please tell the Minister for Social Protection to save half of the €250,000 that he has put into that campaign and divert it to white-collar crime? Were he to do that, he might actually do the public in Ireland some service.

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