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Former Anglo Irish Bank boss Sean FitzPatrick. Photo: Damien Eagers

Former Anglo Irish Bank boss Sean FitzPatrick. Photo: Damien Eagers

Former Anglo Irish Bank boss Sean FitzPatrick. Photo: Damien Eagers

Business Minister Heather Humphreys has warned there can be no repeat of the botched probe into former Anglo Irish boss Seán FitzPatrick as she detailed plans to scrap the Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).

In her first interview since her promotion, Ms Humphreys pledged to establish an independent agency "with the right skill set" to replace the under-fire corporate watchdog.

She said the agency would be given the "autonomy" it required to go out into the marketplace and hire experts such as forensic accountants.

But Ms Humphreys admitted she would not be in a position to publish the report into the collapsed Anglo trial on the back of strong legal advice from Attorney General Seamus Woulfe.

Instead, she told the Irish Independent she intended to release an "account of the shortcomings identified by the judge" in the period after Christmas.

As previously revealed by this newspaper, the report will detail how requests for additional gardaí went unfulfilled and that deficiencies in the ODCE over several years led to the collapse of the trial.

It confirms that emails warning about a lack of resources at the ODCE were only forwarded to the Government in May - after the trial had collapsed.

Ms Humphreys was briefed on the situation at the ODCE after replacing Frances Fitzgerald as Business Minister last month.

The new independent agency will be underpinned by legislation that will come into effect late next year.

"We can't change the past but we can change the future. There is no time to waste on this, and we have a very ambitious timeline on the Companies (Enforcement) Bill that will underpin the new agency," Ms Humphreys said.

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"The biggest thing it needs is the right skill set. It particularly needs forensic accountants and all the people that can do the job it needs to do, which is of course making sure there is compliance and the enforcement of company law."

Ms Humphreys said her overriding view was that there cannot be a repeat of the events behind the botched probe.

"We want to see a body set up that can do its job and has the necessary skill set to do its job," the Cavan/Monaghan TD said.

Autonomy

"It's about giving them that autonomy of going out into the marketplace and getting the right skill set they require."

In May, Mr FitzPatrick was cleared of all charges of misleading Anglo Irish Bank's auditors about loans, as the judge in the case criticised the investigation by the ODCE.

It has since emerged that the lead investigator, Kevin O'Connell, who has been dubbed 'The Anglo Shredder', has been transferred to a different office within the department.

Over 32 days of testimony, the trial heard how Mr O'Connell shredded documents that were relevant to the investigation while serving as legal adviser to the ODCE.

Mr O'Connell described the shredding of documents in his office in May 2015 as "a calamitous error" which occurred at a time when he was under "enormous pressure".

"Unfortunately, at the later stage of the investigation, I made a calamitous error," he told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. "I shredded a small number of documents which ought not to have been shredded."

Along with Mr O'Connell's startling actions, the court also heard how key witnesses in the case were subjected to coaching.


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