Corporate watchdog says any steps to curb its power would be 'deeply problematic'

Chair of the Corporate Enforcement Authority Ian Drennan to tell PAC any move to curb the oversight powers of the executive would be 'incorrect'. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

The head of Ireland’s corporate watchdog said any steps to curb its power would be “deeply problematic”.

Chair of the Corporate Enforcement Authority Ian Drennan is set to tell the Public Accounts Committee  steps to take responsibility for oversight of the agency away from him and its executive function would mean they would be held accountable to the Oireachtas and courts despite having “no lawful authority or control”.

The authority, which bears responsibility for enforcing company law in Ireland, was rocked last year after it emerged it was operating with just half the gardaí who had been assigned to it amid allegations that a “toxic culture” was pervasive.

Last May, four gardaí who had been seconded to the authority were sent back to An Garda Síochána by Mr Drennan.

Those revelations led to suggestions the heads of the authority should be confined to having responsibility for setting the organisation’s “strategic priorities”, as opposed to having overall control over investigations.

That “would give rise” to a situation in which the chair of the authority “would be accountable to the minister, the Oireachtas, to this committee, and to the courts for investigative activity... over which [they have] no lawful authority or control”, Mr Drennan is expected to tell the PAC.

“For a variety of reasons, including those relating to legislative intent, public policy, governance, financial control, risk management, and accountability, that would be deeply problematic,” he will say, adding any move to curb the oversight powers of the executive would be “incorrect”.

The Corporate Enforcement Authority now has 92 staff, compared to just 15 when the initial Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement was established in 2001.