Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is not the first time I have raised this. I have raised it with the current Taoiseach and his predecessor. We have been arguing the case that we need to bring in a suite of measures to tackle white-collar crime, particularly in the financial institutions, for many years. The previous Governor of the Central Bank wrote to the former Minister for Finance asking him to legislate to make it an offence to lie to the Central Bank. Years later, the Government still has not dealt with that issue but is blocking the Bill that passed Second Stage in this House because of a money message. After his dodgy dealings with the €7.2 billion and when that bank continued to lend, David Drumm could not be charged with reckless lending because, unlike in the North or Britain and even after what we went through, reckless lending is not a crime. The Central Bank has been calling for it to be made a crime for many years. David Drumm could not be convicted of lying to the Central Bank because it is not a crime. In Britain, there is a need for senior bankers to identity the areas for which they are responsible in order that they cannot use the excuse of plausible deniability. However, that can be used by bankers in this jurisdiction.

We heard today that more than 170 people are taking cases to the Financial Services Ombudsman against one bank, AIB, because of the tracker scandal. If they want to see justice in court, they must take their cases individually because the Government is refusing to support the class actions Bill we have brought forward, which would allow for them to club together and take on these elites in society.

Will the Tánaiste agree with the proposal to set up a dedicated unit within an existing criminal agency for investigation and prosecution to deal with white-collar crime, as has been called for by the Central Bank of Ireland?

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