Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy and I will agree that we need both legislation and enforcement because only the laws that exist can be enforced, and if the laws are deficient or do not exist, obviously they cannot be enforced. It requires a combination of actions. I have given the Deputy examples of some of the legislation that we have brought through just in the past year to crack down on white-collar crime, and we also need enforcement. We are doing that by beefing up and providing more resources for the ODCE.

I acknowledge that the ODCE, notwithstanding the fact that it has had a number of very successful prosecutions in recent years, should have done a lot better when it comes to other prosecutions, and that is why it is the Government's intention and policy to separate the ODCE from the Department. It is currently an office of the Department, but we will establish it as a stand-alone agency, a sort of national white-collar crime bureau or an Irish version of the FBI when it comes to white-collar crime. That is exactly what we intend to do.

I have not seen that report and it has not yet been brought to Cabinet. I obviously will read it before it goes to Cabinet and we will be happy to publish it and discuss it further with Deputy Wallace.

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