Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I need to declare an interest. I am a member of one of the professional bodies and was a registered auditor for many years. I am trying to decide whether I am better trusted as a politician than as an auditor. I wonder about my own choices in life. Having been an auditor, I know that auditors take their job very seriously. The amount of regulations brought forward in the past ten or 15 years, even since I trained, has been good and everybody is happy to respond to them. By their nature, auditors and accountants like to be regulated, know that they are doing a good job and make sure there is regulation. We are happy to pay the levies we are paying to bodies such as the IAASA because it reassures us, which is very important.

In respect of the banking issue, we should wait until the report is published before we pass judgment on many people who do good work every day to keep Irish commerce going and around the world because there is so much investment abroad. It is important that we wait and not make the remarks that others here have made.

It is good to have this discussion. A big issue is the rotation of audit firms, which is good. I do not agree with joint audits because auditors would compete with one another which would not be of benefit to the client. There is a code of ethics between auditors and professional firms whereby obtaining information from a previous auditor is never a problem. Most people respect this and all audit firms will co-operate. If there is a need for information gathered or a question arising, an auditor has only to write to the previous auditor who will be more than happy to give the information and clarify the matter. The only issue about which I have concerns and on which I would be open to further discussion is whether eight years is too long. That is a long time in any cycle of commerce.