Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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513. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his views regarding whether the Gardaí have sufficient resources to tackle white collar crime in view of the marked decline in the number of convictions for white collar crime offences since 2003, and in view of the Garda Commissioner's response to this Deputy's question on this matter when he appeared before the Dáil Committee on Public Accounts recently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25143/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that all members of An Garda Síochána may be tasked with investigating crime including incidents of fraud-related white collar crime as appropriate. Specialist assistance is provided by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation (GBFI) where required and I have been assured by the Commissioner that sufficient resources are allocated to the GBFI. In addition, the Criminal Assets Bureau has also been active in targeting the proceeds of deception, fraud, money laundering, bribery and corruption and other types of criminal activity commonly referred to as “white collar crime”.

The conviction rate for any given category of offence relates in the first instance to the outcome of the criminal prosecution process and the Deputy will appreciate that my role does not extend to the bringing of prosecutions, or indeed to the determination of guilt, which is a matter for the courts. In relation to the trends which may be observed from the official crime figures published by the Central Statistics Office, as I have previously observed in responding to the Deputy, it is important to note in interpreting figures for detection and conviction rates that the investigation, detection and prosecution of any offence may take a number of years and the circumstances and complexity of any given case may vary considerably. Great caution should therefore be exercised in comparing, as the Deputy appears to do, conviction rates for offences recorded in 2003 and those recorded up to 2011, which is the latest year for which the CSO have published such detailed data.

However, I am of course concerned to ensure that the investigation and detection of fraud and white collar offences is as effective as it can be and that An Garda Síochána has available to it the necessary legislative and other supports to this end. I continue to attach the highest priority to the full investigation of these offences and bringing the perpetrators of such crimes to justice. Shortly after taking up office I moved urgently to introduce additional legislation in this area which was enacted as the Criminal Justice Act 2011, and provides vital assistance to An Garda Síochána in the completion of current white collar crime investigations as well as providing assistance to them in future investigations. The Garda Commissioner is aware that any further legislative proposals he might have which would assist in the investigation and detection of white collar crime, or of fraud offences generally, will be positively considered by me.

I am briefed on an ongoing basis by the Garda Commissioner on the progress of the major white collar crime investigations which are underway and remain fully confident that An Garda Síochána has the capacity to confront crime in all of its manifestations.