Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests. Like other members of the committee, I welcome the efforts of the office over the past two difficult years. I note the reforms of the ODCE and the separate resourcing, which is a positive arrangement, and the announcement that the co-operatives Bill will come forward in the new year, which is also helpful. The witnesses might expand briefly on the further limited partnership work they referred to in terms of the Pandora Papers. I would have thought this was a very small number of companies. I have a sensitivity to the SME sector at times. The misdeeds of a very small and elite number tend to colour the sector publicly and I wonder about the direction the office is taking on that. In addition, the witnesses said that 95% of companies registered with the office are SMEs. Do they have a breakdown of what percentage of those the office classes as micro or small SMEs employing fewer than five people?

It is a pity the registrar is unable to attend today, but perhaps somebody can take up these questions. One relates to the inflexibility of the year-end date for companies. I have lobbied the Minister continuoally on this. We have seen it extended at the last minute in recent weeks but accountants were working around the clock trying to get information, particularly during the Covid pandemic, and complete inflexibility was demonstrated by the registrar. There is too much emphasis on compliance at times and inflexibility to small businesses. Deputy Stanton mentioned this. I was a small business owner some years ago. My paperwork did not get into the CRO because of the breakdown of a courier and I incurred two years of auditing fees for a very small business. That is most unhelpful and unwelcome. There was no ability, other than to go to the courts, to seek an appeal on that. That is still the case and it must be examined and addressed. Some of the measures the registrar has implemented are punitive, particularly for the small business sector.

The witnesses mentioned the new identity requirements. What exercises is the office planning in terms of not making that too onerous for people who are trying to start small, not large, businesses? My final question relates to defence against cyberattack. The witnesses spoke about the amount of information the office has on its site and the amount of activity coming from abroad where people are evaluating it. How is the office protecting the data it has there? Similar to the banks, if there was a cyberattack within the office, that could damage many businesses.

Perhaps the witnesses would deal with those issues.