Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The ducks as well but there is too much ducking now. That is what is wrong. There is only one duck farm left in Emyvale but there are a lot of people ducking around here and in these organisations. They think they cannot be found. They are not being found and will not be found because no one is looking for them, apart from the eejits outside here paying taxes. I do not mean that in a bad way about the poor unfortunate taxpayers. They are well able to duck and they are well able to suck eggs but they are not able to do their business. That is why I worry about this as well and will it change one iota.

Not even a detailed package of measures contained in the Government's report, entitled Measures to Enhance Ireland's Corporate, Economic and Regulatory Framework, a right mouthful, seems to have worked in combatting serious white collar crime in this State, because there is no follow up. They are nice statements in flowery glossy reports and documents to tell the EU we will tick another box and do this or that. Dúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi. That is what it is all about. There is no real, meaningful and tangible result. I do not see any major breakthrough. That is what the Government document states. That report is gathering dust on top of the last one and the ones before it. The next one will go on top of it.

We are still grossly under-resourced in this area. In many ways it is not being addressed with the urgency that it requires. The Minister must know that because she sees the diminishing business, especially in rural Ireland. Today on Questions on Promised Legislation I brought up the latest Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, report which shows that over 52% of economic activity takes place here in the capital, Baile Átha Cliath, and the concerns of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD. I am not anti-Baile Átha Cliath. I spoke about the water today but to fix the leaks it would not need the water from the country. Let it be self-sufficient.

If we keep pumping everything into business here it will destroy Cavan, Monaghan, Tipperary and even Kildare which is close to Dublin, and every other county because all the big business interests are coming in here. I know this because I met the head of the Industrial Development Authority, IDA, in New York on the eve of Paddy’s Day last year. He said it cannot get companies to go outside Dublin, to Limerick, Galway or Waterford or anywhere. Everything is Dublin-centric. That is very bad because of the pressure on housing, roads infrastructure and quality of life. The Minister's boss has gone to Davos. I hope he brought that report with him to read on the plane because this is alarming and it has been said by several economic bodies and experts. It did not have to be said by anybody because we can see it, when we try to drive in or out of the capital. We need to rectify that and get a regional balance. The Taoiseach told me this morning about people wanting to live in Dublin. They cannot live in the country because they will not get planning permission. We have more directives and guidelines on where people can live or not in rural Ireland. Regional development needs to be examined.

As an example of the under-resourcing I point to the report of the Law Reform Commission in 2016 commenting on the Oireachtas Committee on Public Accounts', PAC, Interim Report on the Committee's Examination of Bank Stabilisation Measures 2013. Where did we hear that before? In its report PAC noted the lack of provision for reckless trading for financial services and called for an examination of the need for "a provision which would provide for presumptive liability or presumptive sanctions for directors of failed financial institutions". They were two fine reports, one in 2013 and 2016, with a lot of presumptions but no actions. What did we do about it? I did not see anyone held accountable. This is the problem. The committee also suggested that current systems, structures and procedures for investigating directors suspected of corporate wrongdoing should be reviewed and streamlined, and that the Law Reform Commission should review relevant aspects of the law in respect of enforcement against individuals. Has any of this happened? I accept that this is a very complex area, but I can give one example of where people might lose faith that we are taking the audit process seriously from a public policy point of view even at State level, within the EU. The research document provided to us ahead of this debate refers to Article 34 of the 2013 Accounting Directive which refers to situations in which "in the course of audit, he, she or it has identified material misstatements in the management report, and shall give an indication of the nature of any such misstatements". It calls them "misstatements". Can we not just be honest and name them as what they most likely are, potential corruption, within the audit review? To return to our well-documented history, the financial regulators gave clean bills of health to the Irish banking sector, an audit performed by some very well-known accounting firms that turned out to be utter rubbish. Many of them were brought in afterwards to give advice on how to get those banks back on the road. One would think we are all illiterate, dumb and blind.

That is the way it has happened. It is one thing to have all these fine auditing rules and directions in place but the real issue is what happens when we need to enforce the rigours of the law. We need to get real and deal with the Bill. Small business people are put to the pin of their collars every day of the week. We heard auditors from the EU this evening at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs. Departments roll out directives, reams of paper, regulations and rules for all the ordinary people, whether it be the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017 or the directives on spreading slurry or any issue relating to health and safety. I am all for health and safety but it is totally over the top because it incurs costs for small business people, the self-employed or those employing between five and ten people, who are trying to stimulate businesses. They have fought through the recession. We are told there is a bit of an upturn but they cannot see it. They are smothered with paperwork. The Minister should talk to people in her own county. I am sure she listens to them every day of the week. They are choked and smothered. There are statutory audits and this Bill but we are getting nowhere. We are not tackling the serious serial offenders in corporate and big business, gnó mór. There is a monopoly in the beef industry - one business which controls the whole industry. I compliment Seamus Maye who has written many reports on this. The farmer does not see a bit of profit on the whole hindquarter of the animal. There is a fodder crisis in the west and probably in the Minister's county too because there was no summer and no crops saved. We are trying to send out fodder but the prices are controlled by a cartel in the beef industry. There are big conglomerates producing milk which started off in Monaghan, Tipperary, Kerry and around the country. Small farmers groups come together and turn into Avonmore in Tipperary. Now there is the Glanbia conglomerate.

6 o’clock

We have the same problem with milk conglomerates. They started off in Monaghan, Tipperary, Kerry and everywhere else around the country as small farmers groups that came together. That turned into the likes of Avonmore, in Tipperary, and Glanbia, and those companies abandoned every rural community and closed every little creamery and co-op. One might have to travel 30 miles now to find a co-op in order to get supplies. These companies abandoned the ethos and spirit of self-help and the ethos of the great people who set up the co-operative movement. The conglomerates have shareholders, AGMs and profits.

The problem also exists in the concrete industry. There have been many decent, hardworking people in family businesses driven out of the concrete industry so that one or two companies can control the whole market. It is a racket, and there is a cartel in operation. I have gone to Cement Roadstone AGMs in recent years. Some of the shareholders are happy, but what is happening all over the world with these companies is unsavoury to say the least. What went on in the Wicklow Mountains with the small companies there and in the case of families in Tipperary that I gave employment to for decades is disgraceful. There is a monopoly in place.

What happened to Seán Quinn? We can like him or lump him, but he provided plenty of employment in his area. I visited his place when I was in Monaghan, Fermanagh and Derrylin a long time ago. I saw the industry he provided. There were 400 trucks. The sand was moving. He provided employment there. There was obviously greed involved, with his gambling in financial businesses - not gambling in the other sense of the word - but he got little support from the Government. I met him at the time it happened. What is going on now? The place is a shadow of what it was before.

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