Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 15:

In page 11, line 4, to delete “Subject to subsection (2), a” and substitute “A”.

These amendments are the most important changes to the text and I am glad they are being considered together. They are primarily technical and are designed to ensure that investors are clear about their obligations. They reflect the extensive consultation that officials in the Department have worked on in the legal sector, within the investor community and with our colleague enterprise agencies since the Bill was published. The proposed changes ensure that the focus of the screening is on the acquiring party. The original text would have resulted in a wider range of transactions where no risk to Irish security or public order exists, falling within scope of the Bill. For example, a transaction where the seller is a third country company with no nexus to the State, but the purchaser is Irish, would have been notifiable under the original wording. This amendment will reduce the number of unnecessary notifications and focus attention on transactions where potential risks to national security may exist. The amendments also clarify and give greater prominence to voting or shareholding requirements. They ensure that the focus of the screening regime is on newly acquired or newly increased control, rather than on changes in structure. This is again intended to ensure that only those transactions, which might pose a real risk to security or public order, require mandatory notification. There is no benefit to the State or to the Department in receiving notifications of other types of transactions, such as internal company restructuring where no change in overall control occurs. This would only create unnecessary burdens on both investments and on the administration of the regime.