Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. Since the last time we discussed this issue a few weeks ago, the directive has been watered down at European Council-level under the impact of corporate lobbying. The most significant aspect in this regard is that it is now up to member states to decide whether they include the finance sector. Where countries do not do this, it would mean that banks and other financial institutions would not be subject to the requirements in this regard to this directive and would not have a responsibility in terms of environmental, social and labour rights. This means there will be a real danger this will create a race to the bottom between member states and a fragmentation of the market. I ask the witnesses from the IDI to comment on this point and whether they think it is fair to exempt one sector from this process when other sectors are included.