White collar crime - Inquiries are taking far, far too long

WHEN he introduced the Criminal Justice 2011 Bill to the Dáil some weeks ago Justice Minister Alan Shatter promised that the legislation would “put an end to any hint of a culture that suggests the white collar criminal is a protected species”.

Let’s hope it does so quickly because our justice system, and the faith we must have in it, is being undermined every day that passes without some sort of action, even an announcement that there won’t be any action, against some of those at the centre of our banking scandals.

Some days after Mr Shatter’s declaration Director of Public Prosecutions James Hamilton said that the length of time involved in deciding to prosecute cases involving Anglo Irish Bank is because of Ireland’s adversarial system rather than any lack of resources in his office. It’s the system, not us, he insisted.