Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I certainly hope everybody in this House shares the view that we need to be dealing robustly with white-collar crime. We need to learn lessons from a banking crisis that has caused so much difficulty for so many families and businesses across the country. The conviction of David Drumm and his sentencing yesterday were, on one level, a recognition of the seriousness of the crimes that have been committed.

From a Government perspective, our job is to make sure we learn lessons from the past and put legislative measures and policy in place to ensure they are not repeated in the future. We will listen to everybody who has a sensible contribution to make in that regard. The Government published a suite of measures last November aimed at enhancing corporate governance, increasing transparency and strengthening Ireland's response to white-collar crime. Among the actions in the package is a criminal procedure Bill which, among other things, streamlines criminal procedures to enhance the efficiency of criminal trials. The Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill 2017 includes provision for recommendations arising from the Mahon tribunal and will substantially advance meeting Ireland's obligations under a number of international anti-corruption instruments. This major modernisation of corruption offences law will repeal and replace the seven previous Prevention of Corruption Acts of 1889 to 2010. Work on the development of the legislative framework for the establishment of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement as an agency has commenced and it is expected that the scheme of the Bill will give effect to this decision. It will be published in line with the delivery timelines the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, has outlined.

The Companies (Statutory Audits) Bill 2017 was published on 6 November 2017. The markets in financial instruments directive, MiFID II, has been implemented and, as of 3 May, the Bill is before the Dáil on Second Stage. The Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill was published and is progressing on schedule. The statutory review of the Protected Disclosures Act is well under way and will be published shortly. There is no shortage of legislative response coming from Government.

We will, of course, always listen to An Garda Síochána, the Central Bank and Opposition parties that have pragmatic and sensible approaches to providing a more comprehensive suite of legislation to respond to the modern challenges of white-collar crime.

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