Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join other Senators in expressing my outrage at the revelations on the tapes. Caution is required as in a year or whenever it comes to pass that these people come before the courts, there will be senior counsels arguing that prejudice will arise from the amount of information in the public domain. We must be very careful about the level of detail with which we discuss these matters. I appreciate Senator Crown's point that the issue of getting the information out there is important, but we must hope that at least one good thing will come from the publication of the tape transcripts, and there will be pressure to have an inquiry. The question is why it has not happened before now.

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement is vastly under-resourced, and this is perhaps highlighted by the fall in the number of convictions for white collar crimes. The number fell to just 178 in 2010, compared with 579 in 2003, although the number of white collar cases increased in that period. It is a startling statistic and although the director is trying to do the best job possible, one wonders if the office needs much more resources. One also wonders whether with further foresight legislative provisions should have been created to oblige executives to disclose any material facts before any State intervention could take place, and if material facts were not disclosed by these criminals, this could be punishable by conviction.

If people were unfortunately injured because of a train crash, an inquiry would be carried out. People have been seriously injured, not least in a psychological sense, because of the demise of the economy.