Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 February 2022
194. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the date on which the Corporate Enforcement Authority will commence its work; and the number of gardaí and the rank of each that have transferred or are in the process of transferring to the authority on 7 January 2022. [7319/22]
View answerThe Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Act 2021 which provides for the establishment of the CEA was signed by the President on December 22. it is our firm intention to commence all aspects of the Act as soon as possible, once the organisational matters integral to the establishment of the Authority have been finalised.
Last Thursday, Minister English signalled in the Dáil our intention to make a simple but necessary amendment to address a cross-referencing error to a Schedule in the Act . Government has approved the drafting of an amendment at Committee Stage of the Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Bill 2022, which is currently before the Dáil, and which it is hoped will be enacted without undue delay.
In parallel, commencement orders are being drafted to commence the relevant provisions of the Act after its amendment.
The Tánaiste has written to the Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment regarding the status of establishment of the CEA.
On Garda resourcing, the Garda Commissioner has committed that the members of An Garda Síochána assigned to the CEA will increase from 7 to 16. There are currently 6 members of AGS on secondment to the ODCE (2 Detective Sergeants and 4 Detective Gardaí). In addition, there are a further 4 members of Detective Garda rank on temporary secondment. Discussions are ongoing related to the assignment of these additional resources and on the agreement of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) and An Garda Síochána. I expect these discussions to be successfully concluded shortly. There are no further secondment dates fixed, pending successful conclusion of this MoU.
The Tánaiste and I intend to commence all aspects of the Act as soon as possible provided that legal, operational and resourcing matters integral to the establishment of the Authority have been finalised to our satisfaction.
