Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. We all are supportive of this legislation. Granting the new authority autonomy over the appointment of its resources is necessary, as we all argued for during the course of the passage of the Bill. The power to recruit its own staff according to the skills the authority envisages to be necessary is a key component of the independence of the CEA. The long-awaited new authority must demonstrate from the get-go that it has the strongest powers and can ensure those involved in white-collar crime get the harshest of penalties where possible. With a more co-ordinated approach from all the State agencies involved in combating white-collar crime, it can assure this type of crime is not ignored, as, unfortunately, was the case on many occasions in the past.

I understand, as the Minister of State said, that there is a slight technical problem with the Act. Assuming this is corrected quickly, which we hope it will be, and the Minister of State will have my party's full support on that, has he a date in mind as to when he envisages the agency will be established as an independent and functioning body? Basically, when will it be set up?

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