Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 27, to delete lines 5 to 12.

My amendment concerns limitations on imposing monetary sanctions on relevant directors. It states that the authority may not impose on a director a monetary sanction that would make him or her bankrupt. It provides that only one monetary sanction may be imposed where more than two breaches of the same conduct have occurred.

Companies are already protected by limited guarantee. This provision offers directors protections above and beyond what would normally be expected where a person commits a transgression. As was said in the Dáil, if someone breaks any one of the State's bylaws on parking or road tolls then he or she must pay a fine for each instance. I am being facetious in saying I would love to be able to say I had a parking ticket ten years ago and have paid it. It seems a little incongruous that this provision is in the same section on the how the anonymity of a person's reputation would be damaged. The threat of bankruptcy could be abused as a mechanism for refusing financial penalties for serious breaches and I hope that the Minister of State will be in a position to give me some comfort on this.

I really do not believe it is fair that directors can benefit from a protection that is not available to the ordinary Joe Soap and that would confer an advantage on them if they have committed a transgression.