Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Central Bank and the Financial Regulator today published a consultation paper on corporate governance in which they propose a number of reforms in the ways in which companies are governed through boards of directors and chief executive officers, chairmen and so on. I recall that the Minister for Finance promised on St. Patrick's Day 2009 in an interview he gave to the Financial Times that he would introduce legislation to clean up what he called "crony capitalism" and in the course of the interview he indicated he would bring proposals to Government the following week in respect of such legislation. I have asked on a number of occasions about when we might see the legislation because, on the basis of what the Taoiseach said in the interview, it would appear that some of the areas that are the subject of the report by the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator will be covered by it.

Perhaps the Taoiseach might tell us where is the legislation. As the Government has not published it, will he agree to give Government time to take the Labour Party Bill on the Order Paper - the Corporate Governance (Codes of Practice) Bill - which we published a year ago and which covers most of the areas that were the subject of the report by the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator today? It would be a means by which we would get the important recommendations made by the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator in respect of corporate governance enacted.

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