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

This extension is to deal with the costs and any legal challenges, meaning this may not be the last extension. The IBRC Commission of Investigation was set up under the 2004 Act. That bespoke legislation effectively turned the commission of investigation into a tribunal but behind closed doors. It dealt with one of 38 transactions. A very comprehensive report found that the transaction was not commercially sound because it was so tainted by impropriety. We need to consider if we have the apparatus in the State to catch things in real time. For example, does the Corporate Enforcement Agency have the capacity where investigations are required to be done including ones that actually will challenge some very powerful people? Do we need to revisit what apparatus we have? Despite the time it took, it dealt with only one transaction, albeit it was a very comprehensive report. We need either a Government or an all-party approach to looking at how we deal with things in a timely and cost-effective manner in the future. We either need to invest in real-time strong enforcement or we if we are going to be dealing with it through inquiries afterwards, those inquiries need to be cost effective and timely. I do not think we have that at the moment.

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