Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, David Drumm, the former chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank, was sentenced to six years for conspiracy to defraud and false accounting. It might have taken nearly ten years but the Irish people, who suffered immeasurably as a result of the actions of reckless bankers, finally have some sense of justice delivered. The damage done to the State by Anglo Irish Bank in particular was catastrophic. We should not forget that we are still paying the price of that damage because of the promissory notes and the IBRC liquidation and we will be paying for it for many decades to come. However, we cannot pretend that the conviction of David Drumm yesterday marks some sort of watershed moment. That just four people have been convicted for their roles in the banking crisis ten years after the event is hardly a ringing endorsement of the justice system when it comes to tackling white-collar crime, which continues to go unpunished and, in many cases, is unpunishable to this day. Over the next few months, we will all reflect on the tenth anniversary of the banking crisis. I do not believe many will feel any sense of real closure when that anniversary comes and goes.

There is a mountain of work for all of us in these Houses to do to ensure this scandal never happens again and to hold those responsible to account for their actions. Urgent action is required from this Dáil and from the Government. One of the reasons for the delay in securing the prosecution of Mr. Drumm, we are told, was the scale and complexity of the case. The Garda has said it requires additional powers to investigate white-collar crime. Will the Government be taking that recommendation on board? The Central Bank has also made a number of recommendations in respect of white-collar crime, including the setting up of a dedicated division within an existing criminal agency to investigate it and for a specialised prosecution unit to be established. They have called for implementing rules in order that senior individuals in financial institutions must provide the Central Bank with a document outlining what they are in charge of. Then, if a crime takes place, that senior-level individual can be held to account for the areas for which he or she was responsible. The Central Bank has also called for making reckless lending and reckless management a crime, as is the case across the water.

White-collar crime is not victimless. Along with the Central Bank and the Garda, which is calling for additional powers and resources, Sinn Féin has also added to the suite of actions that need to be taken. For example, Deputy Ó Laoghaire and I have sponsored the Multi-Party Actions Bill 2017, which is similar in fashion to the US-style class action suits whereby a number of victims can work together to take on a corporate entity in court. We have produced legislation that would make it a crime for bankers to lie to the Central Bank and which provides that they could be imprisoned as a result of so doing. Will the Government consider these proposals from the Garda, the Central Bank and Sinn Féin in order that white-collar crime can be dealt with robustly for once and for all and so we will not have to wait another ten years to see people held to account?

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