Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 32, to delete lines 32 to 34 and substitute the following:

"(2) Article 2 of the Companies (Recognition of Countries) Order 1964 (S.I. No. 42 of 1964) is amended by the substitution of 'section 250' for 'sections 250 and 367'.".

I have been given legal advice on this matter and I propose that Article 2 of the Companies (Recognition of Countries) Order 1964, S.I. 42 of 1964, be amended by the substitution of "section 250" for "sections 250 and 367".

The 1964 order recognises Northern Ireland and British company decisions for the purposes of four separate sections of the parent Act, the Companies Act 1963. The sole relevant sections of that Act to which I refer are sections 250, 367, 388 and 389. As currently promulgated, this Bill in section 37(1) repeals one of these sections, namely, section 367, but leaves the other three sections in place. I asked my adviser to check the other three section and was informed that following a check of the Attorney General's index, the other three sections have not been repealed by any other Act of the Oireachtas. Since the Attorney General's index is clear only up to the end of 2003, there may be some enactment since then of which I am unaware, but that is the position as I ascertain it from the available information. Accordingly it is not prudent to revoke the 1964 order, either to a specific extent or at all. One does not revoke the order. The correct course would be to delete the reference in the order to section 367, which is the import of my amendment.

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