Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is repeating pretty much what I said earlier. It is true there will be a criminal enforcement mechanism, and that is the only thing he has pointed to because there can be a fine on conviction. That will be a criminal conviction, so the regulator is going to have to get into the business of mounting criminal prosecutions and maintaining them, which is a very onerous process, as I said earlier. At the end of all that, even if a conviction is secured, it will have taken years because criminal trials, especially on indictment, take a long time. A corporation is not going to be imprisoned, yet this is going to be directed at corporations. While there is the possibility of substantial fines, it will have to have been proven beyond reasonable doubt, with all the protections that are, rightly, afforded in a criminal trial to the accused.

That is a very burdensome onus to meet, so burdensome that I dare say this regulator will not mount any such prosecutions. The reason this Legislature has moved away from that model over the past 20 years relates to the fact it is so burdensome, in parallel with company law, competition law, health and safety and so on. By the way, health and safety legislation also allows for criminal convictions, but there is also the power to seek information and a mechanism to enforce that, if the regulator is not provided with the information, that is a lot less burdensome, namely, a civil enforcement system.

It is bizarre that the Minister would set up a regulator, which is a civil entity, and not give it civil enforcement powers. It seems that it is designed to fail. I am not saying the Minister has designed it to fail or that he wants it to fail, but it seems that it is designed to fail. I am sorry but I do not have much confidence in his Department, and I have said that, to be a fair arbiter between producers and processors. That is why we need the mechanism to go to the courts to say that a person has legitimately asked for that information, he or she wants it, and wants an order compelling in the provision of that information.

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