David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 233: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she is satisfied with the measures and resources in place to detect and prosecute white collar crime; her plans to further reinforce the role of the State in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24814/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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A number of measures have been introduced in recent years to further strengthen the legislative framework and resources to detect and prosecute breaches of company and competition legislation. Alongside other measures contained in the Companies Act that regulate the activities of companies, recent protections against market abuse including "insider dealing" were introduced by the Market Abuse (Directive 2003/6/EC) Regulations in 2005. These Regulations introduced more demanding insider dealing provisions and brought a new specific offence of market manipulation into Irish law. The Regulations substantially broadened the range of financial instruments covered by legislation and designated the Financial Regulator as the competent authority for purposes of ensuring compliance. In addition to criminal and civil sanctions, the legislation also provided for administrative sanctions to be applied.

In relation to detection and enforcement of general company law the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) is the primary agency. The Deputy may be aware that, following a request from the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the approved Departmental staff of the ODCE was increased from 30 to 38 in 2007. In addition, approved Garda staff numbers were also increased by one in 2007 bringing the total approved staffing complement of the ODCE to 46 posts. The Director indicated in late 2007 that having integrated these additional staff, he would review his request for further extra staff at the end of the 2008 and advise my Department at that stage of the results of that review.

The Competition Act 2002 consolidated, reformed and modernised previous legislation relating to competition policy and merger control. The Act also enhanced the independence of the Competition Authority, which is the statutory agency responsible for the enforcement of competition law, and increased the penalties for serious anti-competitive activities.

Cartels are another example of white-collar crime. The focus of the Authority's Cartels Division is to investigate hard-core cartels that include price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation among competitors. Additional resources provided to the Authority during 2006 specifically for its cartel enforcement work has increased the Authority's capacity to investigate and prosecute serious breaches of competition law. As a result of the additional powers and resources of the Authority, to date 20 criminal convictions have been secured for breach of competition law, including the first criminal conviction on indictment in Ireland and Europe. Further proceedings have been initiated against a number of cartel members in the motor vehicle industry and these are expected to come to trial in due course. As part of the ongoing review of the Competition Act 2002, the investigative and enforcement powers of the Authority will be examined and if considered appropriate, further enhanced.