Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

What I am trying to get at in my limited time is if we have companies that are already adhering to all the criteria, it seems to be unfair to sweep the boards with all of what is proposed. I do not believe I ever met anybody who would be in any way not supportive of the streamlining of reporting, but let us be absolutely clear: some of the reporting required of companies, whether small or foreign direct investors and whether the reporting is because of bureaucracy or the need to produce duplicates, is nonsensical. Everybody would welcome the changes in this regard but obviously there is concern, particularly around the detrimental effect the proposed changes may have on environmental reporting and workers’ rights. It is about trying to strike a balance between these. I have major concerns around how this is being done and the way the current climate is being used, under the simplification umbrella, to erode regulations that need to be in place across member states.

The witnesses referred to overregulation. Who defines that? I envisage many things being contested here. How would the voluntary standard be implemented? What is the likelihood of companies adhering to the voluntary standards that are talked about?