Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 February 2022
599. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice if her Department is considering setting up an anti-corruption inter-agency steering committee to better coordinate corruption prevention efforts in view of the recent review of Ireland’s implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption; if so, the proposed remit of this committee; and the timeframe in which it will be formed. [4466/22]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is a comprehensive anti-corruption convention, covering a wide range of offences, including domestic and foreign bribery, embezzlement, trading in influence, as well as the concealment and laundering of the proceeds of corruption. Ireland ratified the Convention in November 2011 and the Government is fully committed to its implementation and Irish Government delegations have participated in the Conferences of States Parties.
As part of the Convention, Member States are also party to its review mechanism. The UNCAC review mechanism is a peer review process that assists countries to effectively implement the Convention. The review mechanism is comprised of two review cycles.
The first review cycle, which commenced in 2010, covered Chapters III on Criminalisation and Law Enforcement and IV on International Cooperation. Ireland completed the first cycle in 2014.
The second review cycle, which commenced in 2016, covered Chapter II on Preventive Measures and Chapter V on Asset Recovery. As part of the evaluation process, an on-site visit by the evaluation team took place in Dublin from 26-28 June 2018. An executive summary of the evaluation was published in February 2019 highlighting Ireland's successes and good practices in relation to its implementation of the Convention, and also identifying areas for improvement. The finalisation of the full country report was delayed due to the impact of COVID-19 and was published in December 2021.
Related to this particular recommendation, the report of the Review of Structures and Strategies to Prevent, Investigate and Penalise Economic Crime and Corruption was published on 3 December 2020. This review group was led by Mr James Hamilton and their recommendations focused primarily on legislative, structural and resourcing measures to enhance agency and multi-agency enforcement and prevention capacity in the criminal justice sphere.
One of the issues which they considered was the establishment of a Corporate Crime Agency. Ultimately, the review group came to the conclusion that the establishment of a new Corporate Crime Agency would represent a duplication of efforts and an inefficient use of resources. However, they did recommend the development of a multi-annual national Strategy to Combat Economic Crime and Corruption, and accompanying Action Plan, and the establishment, on a permanent basis, of a cross-sectoral, partnership-based Advisory Council to advise the Government on strategic and policy responses to all forms of economic crime and corruption, as well as a forum of operational representatives.
An implementation plan to progress the report’s recommendations was published on 19 April 2021, detailing the exact actions to be taken across government and by State agencies. The Economic Crime and Corruption Forum was established in June 2021 and has met regularly since then. Work is underway to finalise the membership of the Advisory Council thereby enabling its full establishment in Q1 2022 and allowing work to begin on the development of the multi-annual national strategy for combatting economic crime and corruption. The establishment of the Forum and the Advisory Council will in effect fulfil this UNCAC recommendation.
