Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

The Deputies are mixing up two separate matters by grouping amendments Nos. 4 and 65 together. Amendment No. 4 is not consistent with the standard corporate governance requirements imposed on similar bodies. If accepted, it would result in the form of the NORA annual accounts requiring to be approved by the Standards in Public Office Commission, which would not be welcomed by that body, apart from the fact that NORA would then be treated differently from every other semi-State company.

If the intent of the amendment was for the people involved in NORA to meet the same ethical standards as other people in public office, then that is catered for elsewhere in the Bill. I assure the Deputies that various public service ethical requirements have to be met in this case. The amendment relates specifically to the accounts but the Bill contains comprehensive controls over the form of the accounts, as is the case with all semi-State companies. Provisions in the Bill require that the form of NORA's annual accounts meet the requirements of the Companies Acts. In addition, they have to be approved by the Minister and the Minister for Finance and be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The Committee of Public Accounts also has a role.

We are all at one in the belief that the highest possible standards must apply and that people involved in NORA must comply with the same ethical obligations as everybody else in the public service, but that is catered for and this amendment would not in any way assist it.

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