Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I thank the Tánaiste for her reply. I put it to her that for the ordinary person corporate governance and the cross-over of directorships must remind them of the old song "Lanigan's Ball" — "I stepped out and you stepped in again". That is about the height of it. One could meet a small cohort of people on nearly any board. When one individual resigned from a board, he also had to step down from positions in four other places. It is all right to talk about the cross-fertilisation of ideas.

A person whom I have not met in years, but who is from my town, is the managing director of Grant Thornton, Mr. Paul Raleigh. As its managing partner, he urged the Government to introduce new legislation to incorporate into law key provisions of the combined code of corporate governance and serious sanctions for non-compliance with the code. I think what he was saying is that one can complain but as long as one can explain, everything is all right. Does the Tánaiste agree that it is important in the context of regaining our international credibility, which is most important after the recent controversies?

Will the Tánaiste ensure that, first, chief executives do not go on to become chairmen and become combined executive chairmen? That happens a lot. Second, if I am on two or three boards of listed companies at the same time how can I, as an independent director, be effective in terms of the amount of time I am able to devote to each company? How can I dot the i's and cross the t's? How can one carry out one's fiduciary duty as a non-executive board member if one is looking after one's own business and sitting on three or four boards? Some of them are shaking hands with one another as they leave. Let us not talk about cross-fertilisation; it is the cross-directorships that are important. If a board wants particular expertise it would be better for it to buy it in. It has been said that corporate cronyism has reached a height in this country. Has the Tánaiste examined how the system operates in other countries, for example, the London Stock Exchange?

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