Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As regards the Minister of State's statement that everybody in this House would be pro-business, history will show that austerity and all it entailed was not pro small business. That is why our domestic economy has struggled so much during the past few years. It may have been pro big business it was not pro small business.

As regards the Minister of State's final comment, I have not asked that unlimited companies be removed from Ireland. I believe they should be allowed to operate but we should maximise our efforts to hold them to account. The Minister of State mentioned that limited companies have to go through the same hoops as unlimited companies. However, my point is that many of the unlimited companies are not near as unlimited as one would think. Some are actually limited and have many of the benefits of limited companies without being titled limited. The Minister of State said that similar systems operate across Europe. World economists like Ha-Joon Chang and Stiglitz are looking at what is happening in the business world. They see a race to the bottom in terms of how we operate. Companies Bills are not introduced very often. The Bill before us is mammoth. It will be years before similar legislation is introduced again.

We should maximise our efforts to ensure that these unlimited companies are more transparent in their operations and that they are at least held to account in Ireland. I still believe we are going somewhat easier on them. In the past couple of years large businesses have received more favourable treatment than their smaller counterparts.

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