I do not accept that there has been any delay on the part of the Garda authorities in tackling so-called white collar crime. I am determined to ensure that all appropriate measures are in place to combat serious financial fruad and I have taken a number of steps to enhance the State's capacity to deal with such offences.
At my instigation, the Garda authorities initiated a wide-ranging review of the operations of the Fraud Squad last May with the intention of ensuring that the squad is fully equipped to deal effectively and expeditiously with all cases of fraud which come to its attention. As I indicated last Wednesday in my contribution to the Dáil motion of confidence in the Government, the report on the review of the Fraud Squad is now to hand and its recommendations will be given effect. These recommendations include, restructuring the squad to allow for the establishment of special teams to handle serious and complex cases of fraud, significantly increasing the strength of the squad, improvements in training of the members of the force attached to it, and strengthening the links between the squad and external professional bodies such as the professional accountancy bodies.
I have also been active in bringing forward new legislative proposals which are highly relevant in this regard. The Criminal Evidence Bill, which will provide for the admissibility in evidence of business and administrative documents, including computerised records, will be published in the next few weeks. Moreover the Law Reform Commission are putting the finishing touches to their examination of the law relating to dishonesty in general. The commission's examination of this area of the law includes consideration of offences of larceny, false pretences, fraudulent conversion, false accounting, offences relating to computers, conspiracy to defraud, forgery, counterfeiting and related matters. The Government's intention is to introduce whatever legislative changes are necessary to modernise the criminal law in this area and to make it as effective as possible.
As indicated in the Taoiseach's reply to Questions Nos. 23 and 24 on Wednesday, 16 October last, the Government will look at all of the options for dealing with serious financial fraud including the establishment of a serious fraud office under the Office of the Attorney General.