David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I welcome our witnesses and thank them for both their statements and their work in this area. I notice from the report presented to us that France and Germany have introduced laws on mandatory human rights due diligence. I am interested to know what the witnesses think of these laws. How do they impact, if at all? I notice some improvements could be made. Has any other country introduced the type of legislation proposed? If so, how does it work? Mr. Walsh said 34% of Irish companies scored zero on embedding respect for human rights in their operations. On the other side of the coin, are there examples of good practice whereby companies have taken on the voluntary approach and managed to do the right thing? Are there Irish or global companies the witnesses could tell us about? I know from my work in the past on diversity that some companies do a lot of very important work in this area. Are there any large corporations that are trailblazers we could use as examples and point to? Sometimes we need this type of pioneering spirit that others can follow. I have read the reports and what is happening in many areas is appalling. We need to do what we can to address this. Much of it seems to be based on greed and profit. It is something we cannot stand over.