Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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126. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of times she has met the Director of Corporate Enforcement since coming to office; if she has confidence in the director in view of the collapse of a trial (details supplied) in May 2017 due to the failed ODCE investigation and in view of the fact that no prosecutions or convictions have been achieved by this office in the past two years. [49409/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I have met the Director on one occasion since becoming Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation.

Since his appointment in 2012, the Director of Corporate Enforcement has demonstrated his commitment to reforming the Office, to enhancing the capability of the Office to investigate increasingly complex breaches of company law and to amending the investigative procedures used by the Office. These are set out in further detail as follows.

Though the trial referred to by the Deputy concluded in May 2017, the investigative process in question began in 2009 and concluded during 2012.

Organisational reforms in the ODCE were commenced in 2012 by the current Director of Corporate Enforcement upon his appointment, to ensure a more efficient and effective use of its resources. These include:

- Reorganising the structures of the Office;

- Recruiting additional expertise, including six forensic accountants, a digital forensic specialist and 2 Enforcement Portfolio Managers;

- As senior-level vacancies have arisen, reconfiguration of the skill sets, competencies, roles and responsibilities associated with those posts in order to better reflect the organisation’s needs;

- Fundamentally amending the investigative procedures used by the Office so that members of an Garda Síochána take the lead in all criminal investigations; and

- Fostering a greater culture of risk management.

The ODCE Annual Report for 2016 points to a number of key successes during the year, as follows:

- Following the examination of reports submitted to the Office by liquidators of insolvent companies, 90 company directors were restricted and 11 disqualified by the High Court;

- 93 Restriction Undertakings were obtained from directors of insolvent companies;

- As an alternative to formal enforcement actions, cautions issued to a total of 61 companies;

- The securing of the rectification on a non-statutory basis, of suspected infringements of the Companies Act 2014, in relation to Directors’ loans in 60 cases, to an aggregate value of €17m approximately;

- 108 directions were issued to relevant parties requiring them to comply with their statutory obligations under company law;

- The submission of 5 investigation files to the DPP for consideration, with recommendations including charges under both company law and the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001;

- 7 demands issued to companies for the production of their books, records and other relevant documents;

- During the year, the register of disqualified, deemed disqualified and restricted persons, as maintained by the Registrar of Companies, was reviewed. Arising from that review, a total of 83 instances were identified where persons appeared to be acting in contravention of Court Orders/legislative provisions. Following intervention by the ODCE, the individuals’ positions were regularised;

- In excess of 1,050 statutory reports and referrals were received from liquidators, auditors, examiners, professional bodies and other regulatory and enforcement authorities. There were 130 internally generated inputs and almost 250 complaints received from members of the public.

- To encourage compliance with company law, the ODCE issued in excess of 16,000 copies of its various publications during 2016.