Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Fair enough. As EU law requires that statutory audits give a true and fair view, this already is inherent within EU law. While I will not go into the particulars of the directive, Article 35 states "an audit opinion, which shall be either unqualified, qualified or an adverse opinion and shall state clearly the opinion of the statutory auditor ... as to whether the annual financial statements give a true and fair view in accordance with the relevant financial reporting framework". Thus, any change to the current phrasing in section 337 could contravene EU law. On the question of the revised audit and begging the committee's indulgence, I propose to revert to it on Report Stage with a fuller response.