James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure: Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on combating corruption, replacing Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA and the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union and amending Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 30th May, 2023.

I thank the House for facilitating this motion. I welcome the opportunity to address the Dáil on Ireland's opt-in to a new EU proposal for a directive on combating corruption. Ireland has an option, provided for in Article 3.1 of Protocol 21 annexed to the Treaty of Lisbon, to opt into individual proposals in the area of freedom, security and justice. The protocol provides that Ireland has three months from the date a proposal is presented to the Council to notify the Presidency of the Council of its wish to take part in the negotiation, adoption and application of the measure. The three-month period for this proposal ends on 31 August.

The exercise of this opt-in is subject to the approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas, so it has been necessary to bring this proposal to the Houses as swiftly as possible before they rise for the summer to meet this deadline. Ireland can also accept a proposal at any time after it has been adopted, but in such cases, Ireland will not have been in a position to vote on the final content of the proposal. It must also be noted that Ireland made a declaration appended to the Treaty of Lisbon of its intention to opt into measures in the area of freedom, security and justice to the maximum extent it deems possible.

On 3 May, the European Commission put forward several proposals to combat corruption, including a new directive combating corruption and a proposal to establish a dedicated Common Foreign and Security Policy, CFSP, sanctions regime to target serious acts of corruption worldwide. The aim of these proposals is to provide rules to better tackle corruption in the EU and allow better co-ordination of actions at national and EU levels.

As we are all aware, corruption negatively impacts society, individuals and businesses. It undermines democracy and the rule of law and allows organised crime, terrorism and other threats to safety and security to flourish. Corruption can increase inequality and reduce access to basic services. Corruption distorts markets, provides the wrong incentives, drives away investment and undermines innovation. This proposal by the European Commission recognises and responds to the serious damage corruption can cause. This directive will update the existing EU legal framework on combating corruption, with the aim of ensuring that all forms of corruption covered in the UN Convention Against Corruption are criminalised in all member states. The directive will also ensure that legal persons, such as companies and corporations, can be held responsible for such offences.

These new measures place a strong focus on prevention and creating a culture of integrity in which corruption is not tolerated. Member states will have to ensure that the public sector is held accountable to the highest standards. Member states will be obliged to adopt effective rules on open access to information of public interest, the disclosure and management of conflicts of interest in the public sector, the disclosure and verification of assets of public officials, and regulating the interaction between the private and the public sector.

The proposal will harmonise the definitions of criminal offences prosecuted as corruption to cover not only bribery but also misappropriation, trading in influence, abuse of functions, as well as obstruction of justice and illicit enrichment related to corruption offences. The proposal brings together public and private sector corruption in a single legal instrument.

The directive will also strengthen enforcement tools. It aims to provide effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for corruption offences and to address obstacles to effective investigations and prosecution, such as short statutes of limitation, opaque procedures for lifting immunity, and limited availability of resources, training and investigative tools.

The views of the Office of the Attorney General have been sought on this directive. The legal advices confirmed that there are no legal or constitutional obstacles to Ireland opting into this directive.

Naturally, given the importance of this issue, officials from the Department of Justice will continue to participate actively in the negotiations at working party meetings and engage with other Departments and agencies to ensure the final text of the directive works well for Ireland and the EU as a whole.

Tackling economic crime and corruption is a priority for the Government. The programme for Government of 2020 recognises the reputational and economic damage that corruption and white-collar crime can cause to the State and contains a commitment to introduce and implement new anti-fraud and anti-corruption measures.

A review of Ireland's existing measures against economic crime and corruption was completed in 2020. It is known as the Hamilton review. The review made a series of legislative, structural and resourcing recommendations to enhance enforcement and prevention. An all-of-government implementation plan to progress the recommendations in the Hamilton review was published in April 2021. This sets out 22 actions to enhance enforcement and prevention capacity in the criminal justice sphere.

Several actions have already been completed in full, and a number of others have been significantly advanced. To give just a few examples, the Criminal Procedure Act 2021, which was commenced in February 2022, provides for pretrial hearings to take place. This will improve trials for white-collar crimes, organised crime and other complex offences and will make it less likely juries are sent away during trial, making the court process faster and more efficient. To give another example, budgetary increases for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions have allowed for an increase in staffing and resources there, including five additional staff for the special financial crime unit in 2023.

One of the key recommendations in the Hamilton review was the establishment on a permanent basis of a cross-sectoral, partnership-based advisory council for economic crime and corruption to co-ordinate and lead the delivery of a whole-of-government approach to economic crime and corruption. This council was established last summer and has met quarterly since. The advisory council has started work on developing a multi-annual strategy to combat economic crime and corruption which the Minister for Justice will bring to Cabinet for approval. The work on the strategy will reflect and complement the developments at EU level. I commend this motion to the House.

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