Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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To clarify proposal No. 6, the idea of the collective agreement becoming enforceable would be conditional on not observing the 30-day consultation period. If it is a 30-day consultation period, it would not become an enforceable deal. I am not clear if Ms Cahill was implying that this arrangement would only apply where assets had been in some way hidden, as in the Clerys case, or would become a more general preference for collective agreements. The issue that arises is that if a new general preference is created, do other creditors know what those collective agreements are? I could understand if this was a registered employment agreement, which is a publicly available document, and a creditor dealing with a company can see what obligations they have but is this a rather open-ended new preferential arrangement for collective agreements? I stated earlier that this could open up abuse with the State being left on the hook but, presumably, other creditors would get displaced as well as the State being ultimately on the hook. How does that play out in both company law and that wider context? Many of these collective agreements are not generally known compared to, say, a registered employment agreement that is recognised and is put on the record.