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

Some of the Deputies asked about costs. From the time of its establishment until the end of March, the commission has cost €13.1 million, but this excludes third-party legal costs that have been incurred but not yet paid. These are a matter for the commission to determine. I do not have an estimate on that, unfortunately. Since it was established, the commission spent €6.2 million on its own legal costs, which related to two senior counsel and six junior counsel it is sanctioned to engage. All legal service fees are paid at the rates provided by the Government. The per diemrate for senior counsel is €788 per day and for junior counsel it is €394 per day. The commission also had sanction to engage on a consultancy basis the services of three independent experts at a rate of €150 per hour up to a maximum of €750 per day. One of the experts is still involved in the assessment of third-party legal costs claims received by the commission. The commission may also engage, as required, counsel to assist any litigations it is involved in. Up until the end of March, the commission issued 21 directions, with third-party legal costs to be paid to witnesses who appeared before the commission. The amount directed for payment by the commission was €1.5 million, approximately. The State Claims Agency has also sought recoupment from the Department in relation to each of the directions received, to the value of just under €800,000.

On the issues raised by Deputy Catherine Murphy around the appropriateness of commissions of inquiry more generally, we now have the Corporate Enforcement Authority and the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, NBCI. I am not sure commissions of investigation are the best means by which to examine commercial transactions. The suggestion has been made that we would have a more permanent inspector for public inquiries. This would require detailed consideration. It was considered by the Law Reform Commission in 2005. That listed some advantages and disadvantages. Having done so, the commission did not recommend the establishment of a permanent inspectorate. It did, however, recommend the establishment of a central inquiries office that would be charged with collecting and managing a database of records and information with regard to public inquiries. This would provide those charged with establishing and running public inquiries easy access to precedents and guidance on a wide variety of matters pertinent to their inquiry, including legislation, procedural issues, the drafting of terms of reference, and administrative matters. It should be borne in mind that the Law Reform Commission report was published in 2004, only one year after the Commissions of Investigation Act was enacted. Since then a lot has happened and a lot has changed. We have a lot of experience now of how commissions do, and sometimes do not, work.

On the wider question of white-collar crime and corporate enforcement, as raised by Deputy Boyd Barrett and others, the Government is ensuring we have a regulatory framework that promotes and ensures a culture of compliance and good ethical standards in matters of both public and corporate affairs. For example, last year as the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I established the Corporate Enforcement Authority that has autonomy and resources to thoroughly investigate suspected corporate wrongdoing. We are increasing staffing levels by nearly 50%, doubling the number of gardaí, and the authority's budget has been increased by nearly 30%.

An all-of-government implementation plan is in place to progress the recommendations of the Hamilton review into economic crime, which was published back in April 2021. It sets out 22 actions to enhance enforcement and prevention capacity in the criminal justice sphere. Six of those actions are already completed and a number are advanced. I will give the House a few examples of what has been done.

The Criminal Procedure Act was enacted in 2021. That allows for pretrial hearings to take place, which will improve trials for white-collar crimes, organised crime, and other complex offences, and will make it less likely for juries to be sent away during the trial, making the court process faster and more efficient. The Judicial Council has been engaged in relation to the development of judicial training in respect of complex economic crime and corruption cases. The advisory council against economic crime and corruption was established last summer. It is chaired by former Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. James Hamilton. There is also a forum of senior representatives from the relevant operational bodies, which was established in June 2021. That forum meets quarterly to discuss issues of shared concern. They also feed into the work of the advisory council against economic crime and corruption. The Competition (Amendment) Act was signed into law last year, again during my term as the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. This strengthened considerably the powers of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. Budget increases have been provided to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to augment staffing and resources to deal with the increased workload relating to changes in the nature and volume of criminal investigation files received by An Garda Síochána and other specialised investigative agencies. Budget 2023 also provided for the allocation of five extra staff to the special financial crime unit.

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