Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government approved publication of the Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Bill 2021 in July and it will be presented to the House tomorrow for its Second Stage reading. When enacted, the Bill will give effect to the programme for Government commitment to transform the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement into the corporate enforcement authority, CEA, which will be an independent statutory agency.

The new authority will have a commission structure. This structure will allow the authority to bring in expertise as necessary to meet the different demands of its remit, which includes investigation, prosecution, supervision and advocacy. It also allows for clear lines of responsibility and enhances the capacity of the authority to investigate numerous complex investigations simultaneously.

In April, the Tánaiste received the report of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment following its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. The report was carefully considered. It stressed the need for sufficient resources being available to the authority. This is something on which the Tánaiste and I agree. In line with an assessment of the new authority’s staffing needs by the Director of Corporate Enforcement, my Department has already increased the budget of the ODCE by €1 million over previous levels and sanctioned 14 additional staff at Civil Service grades, representing a 35% increase in such staff.

As regards increased Garda resources, as part of his assessment the director identified a need for an additional nine members of An Garda Síochána to be assigned to the authority. Although the Garda Commissioner and the director are independent in their statutory functions, the Government has noted the Garda Commissioner’s confirmation to the director that nine additional members of An Garda Síochána will be provided to the authority. This means the level of Garda resources available to the director will be doubled. The total increase in the overall headcount for the new CEA will be nearly 50% on previous levels.

I look forward to the enactment of the Bill and the establishment of the authority at the earliest opportunity.

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