Second Minister warns of possibility of replacing ODCE

A second Cabinet Minister has expressed a lack of confidence in the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).

Minister for Health Simon Harris has said the Government cannot express confidence in the agency and "nothing is off the table" in relation to its future.

His words echo those of Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor who said she might replace the ODCE.

In the Dáil on Thursday, Ms Mitchell O'Connor said she had ordered a report from current director Ian Drennan, on what had happened following the dismissal of charges against Seán FitzPatrick, and expected it no later than June 23rd.

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“If the report leads me to conclude we need an entirely new model, then so be it,’’ she said.

It was reported yesterday that the ODCE has been operating for months with less than its required statutory complement of gardaí. The office is also operating with three, rather than the required four, detective gardaí.

The director of the ODCE twice wrote to Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan and also to the head of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, stating that the most senior Garda position in the ODCE’s Garda unit – a detective inspector’s role – had been vacant for eight months.

The vacancy, which arose after the incumbent gave three working days' notice of his intention to retire last September, was described by Mr Drennan as "a very serious development", according to documents released to RTÉ's This Week programme under Freedom of Information legislation.

‘Complex’ trial

He had called for the vacancy to be filled urgently because the agency was heading into a “lengthy and complex” trial and was also involved in other significant criminal investigations.

The RTÉ programme reported that when he was told the post would not be filled until 2017 he wrote directly to the Garda Commissioner twice stressing it was imperative the posts be filled. He also stated that in the absence of a full complement of Garda resources its investigations into white-collar crime were being hampered.

A copy of the letter was also sent to the secretary general of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

On RTÉ's The Week in Politics programme Mr Harris said competence was an issue and the ODCE had not previously dealt with cases of such magnitude.

“It’s an office that was largely taking cases to the District Court,” he said.

Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin said an independent investigator needed to examine the "litany of disasters" in the case and that had to take account of the role of the Director of Public Prosecutions.