At the weekend, Mark Tighe reported in the Sunday Independent on the apparent toxic workplace environment and irreparable damage happening at the Corporate Enforcement Agency, CEA. In his piece, Mr. Tighe referenced the disintegration of the CEA's leadership team and the gaps in experienced police investigators. Many of those posts are vacant or were never filled at Garda sergeant and inspector ranks. According to the piece, soon just three of 16 gardaí that can be employed will remain.

The memorandum of understanding between the Garda Commissioner and the CEA appears not to be worth the piece of paper it was written on in terms of the allocation of resources and secondments. Is it the Government's intention to review the memorandum of understanding and will the Minister direct that the CEA immediately initiate an organisational capability review to run in parallel with the workplace culture audit given the very important caseload before the CEA, for example, the case of the FAI?

Part of me would say these agencies, the Garda and so on need to get this sorted out. The Government cannot be intervening left, right and centre in every organisation it establishes that has statutory duties and functions. We need to create a culture in this regard. I fully appreciate the Deputy raising this issue and I will talk to both Ministers in respect of this issue. These organisations have been established by law and there is an obligation on the leadership of both organisations to ensure issues are ironed out and that these arrangements and memorandums of understanding operate properly, efficiently and effectively. That would be my initial response to this. There should be no personality issues involved here and the organisations should work properly in the interests of the citizens and the country. I will raise this issue with the two Ministers.