Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 24:

In page 117, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following:"(8) In subsections (9) and (10) "bearer instrument" means an instrument, in relation to shares of a company, which entitles or purports to entitle the bearer thereof to transfer the shares that are specified in the instrument by delivery of the instrument.
(9) A company shall not have power to issue any bearer instrument.
(10) If a company purports to issue a bearer instrument, the shares that are specified in the instrument shall be deemed not to have been allotted or issued, and the amount subscribed therefor (and in the case of a non-cash asset subscribed therefor, the cash value of that asset) shall be due as a debt of the company to the purported subscriber thereof.".

This amendment proposes to provide for the abolition of bearer shares in line with the company law review group, CLRG, recommendation in its 2011 report. The review group recommended that the general provision for bearer shares should be abolished by way of an express prohibition and that transitional arrangements should be provided to take account of companies that may have legitimately issued bearer shares in the past. This prohibition should not affect the position governing renounceable letters of allotment of fully or partly paid-up bonus shares or beneficial interests in shares, and arrangements should be put in place to take account of the specific regulatory regime for collective investment funds.