Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, in paying tribute to everyone who has been involved in this work of 12 or 14 years. I pay tribute to all who have served on the Company Law Review Group and all the officials involved. In recent months in particular they have been remarkably helpful with briefings. I pay tribute to the predecessors of the Minister of State, many of whom saw this through, as well as to the various chairmen of the enterprise committees. I remember coming to the House in 2007. At the first meeting of the enterprise committee in 2007, Deputy Willie Penrose, who was chairing, advised us to clear our diaries for the first quarter of 2008 because the Bill would come through at that stage. I thank him and Deputy Damien English, who guided this through the committee very well.

The point I made earlier today in respect of resources is important. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is in the Chamber now. He may wish to note that this is how public service reform should be done. The resources to disseminate the requirements of this Bill need to be given to the relevant agencies because they are considerable. It is a sea change. As I said earlier, we have seen how lacunae and gaps in company law legislation have let this country down. We have put a good deal of work into ensuring that those gaps are remedied. It would be a major loss if, for the want of resources relating to information, that work went to naught. I congratulate everyone, including the Minister of State for being the person responsible for getting this legislation over the line, finally, after 12 years.

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