Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 15: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he is satisfied that there are adequate legislative measures in place to deal with the issue of insider trading, especially as a result of the €40 million settlement following a case involving two major public companies (details supplied); if he has plans to introduce new legislative measures or provide additional powers for the Director of Corporate Enforcement in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16554/08]

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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The insider dealing in question took place in 2000, and it is a matter of public record that the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation investigated these events at the time. Any decision to initiate a criminal prosecution arising out of those events is a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions who is an independent officer of the State.

The recent Court proceedings which have now ended were launched in 2002. It was the first civil insider dealing case taken in the State under the Companies Act 1990. The Director of Corporate Enforcement (whose office was established in November 2001) recently intervened in the case before both the Supreme Court and the High Court to draw to attention the power available to each court in Section 160 of the Companies Act 1990 to disqualify any person in any proceedings if satisfied that certain serious misconduct had occurred. Both Courts subsequently declined to utilise this legal power in this case.

It now falls to the Director to consider if he can pursue the matter further. The Deputy will be aware that the Director is a statutory officer who is independent in the performance of his compliance and enforcement duties under the Companies Acts.

It is relevant that the origins of the case to which the Deputy refers dates back to the year 2000 as subsequent to this, market abuse law has been fully overhauled. In addition to broadening the definition of market abuse and bringing in a system of market abuse administrative sanctions, the new law has appointed the Financial Regulator as the competent authority for market abuse.

The Financial Regulator has put in place a range of additional rules governing these matters and is currently well advanced in developing ambitious new systems for monitoring share trading. The Financial Regulator's published strategy sets out the extensive work they are undertaking to build up their capacity to police this area and their 2007 Annual Report just published sets out the work they have already done in this area.

I believe companies generally take their responsibilities in this regard very seriously and I am also confident that the Financial Regulator will make full use of its powers in the event that any company does not act responsibly.