It sounds so good. The Tanaiste, Mary Harney, has bitten the bullet and is ushering through the Dail a new Bill which will put in place a corporate enforcer. Fed up with the drip-feeding of corporate wrongdoing tarnishing our business reputation, she has decided to put together a body with teeth - drawing together the expertise of specialist accountants, lawyers, gardai and civil servants - and taking it out of the political realm.
As I say, it sounds so good. . .too good, maybe. It's only when you look at the budget allocated to this proposed enforcer that the doubts surface - £2 million (€2.54 million) to tackle all the wrongs of the corporate sector. Now that sounds like wishful thinking.
After all, the new group will be responsible for investigation, prosecution and prevention. It will target rogue directors and the Phoenix syndrome. In short, it will do all the work that has gone into the investigation of the Ansbacher deposits, Michael Lowry's Garuda, Celtic Helicopters, and more. . .and all this on £2 million a year.
Forgive me if I doubt the chances of the office securing much specialist accounting and legal advice on that basis.
Quite what the Minister is thinking is a mystery. After all, this is the group that will take over part of the role of the Competition Authority and the Companies Registration Office, both of which have cited lack of funds and resources for their difficulties in fully executing their functions.
