Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It is quite rare to see prosecutions around corrupt practices arising from lengthy tribunals of inquiry or commissions of investigation, even where there are negative findings. The Moriarty tribunal is a case in point. It has gone back and forth between the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, and the Garda Síochána since it reported in 2011.

There are alternatives to tribunals of inquiry. We need to get to that point where we have a satisfactory means of dealing with issues that require inquiry. Commissions of investigation are supposed to be a more cost efficient way of dealing with issues than tribunals of inquiry but that is not always the case. In December, we got a new suite of measures arising out of the Hamilton review group. It made 22 recommendations, some of which are due in quarter 3 of this year, but are the milestones in that regard being met?

The Social Democrats put forward a proposal for an anti-corruption agency with requisite powers as a means of dealing with issues in real time. It is not always the case that prosecutions would follow, but where there is the possibility of prosecutions, we need such an agency rather than a litany of tribunals and commissions of investigation that do not have the prospect of resulting in sanctions. For example, there has been backwards and forwards between the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, and An Garda Síochána with regard to the provision of garda. The new Corporate Enforcement Authority is supposed to have a relationship with An Garda Síochána on the issue of a guaranteed Garda strength. When I raised the issue with the Garda Commissioner at last week's meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts he told me the memorandum of understanding has not been signed yet. That is unsatisfactory. Very high profile cases are stalled because of that.

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