The country's company watchdog has referred at least 15 cases to the gardai as part of its probe into the banking crisis.
Director of Corporate Enforcement Paul Appleby has referred the cases to the Garda fraud squad, it has emerged.
The referral was revealed yesterday by enterprise minister Batt O'Keeffe, who said he had been given the figure by Mr Appleby himself.
Mr O'Keeffe said he had met Paul Appleby to discuss progress in his probe into Anglo Irish Bank.
"During the course of that meeting, it was indicated to me that there were a number of cases that (Mr Appleby) felt could not be pursued by himself.
"He has now referred at least 15 cases to the fraud squad for them to investigate."
A spokesperson at Mr Appleby's office declined to comment.
The minister also denied a claim by Fine Gael finance spokesman Michael Noonan of political foot-dragging on the Anglo Irish probe. It was "absolutely outrageous", he said, for Mr Noonan to want the government to interfere with the judiciary on this. However, he added that the government did want to ensure people who have "fractured the law or broken the law be held responsible and accountable". "Look, it would suit us as a government if the action was taken tomorrow morning - we would love that," he said. "But you have to stand back and realise that gardai have a job to do - that is to ensure they can put forward a case that will be taken up by the Director of Public Prosecutions and, until such a time as the gardai, in terms of the fraud they are investigating, are clear-cut about what they can bring to a court of law, we must have patience and let them get on with their job. "We, as a Government want to ensure that anybody, who breaks the law is subject to that law and is penalised by that law. "But we, as a Government, also understand that there are processes to which people have to follow. One is that a person is innocent until proven guilty. The state will not take action against a person unless there is a clear-cut case and it can be proved in a court of law."
