Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin supports the introduction of the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2017. The Bill is short, technical legislation which will have a positive impact on certain companies doing business in Ireland. This amending legislation will extend the current expiry date of 31 December 2020 to enable qualifying companies incorporated in Ireland to prepare and file financial statements using US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, commonly known as GAAP, rather than International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS. The extension provided for in the Bill is for ten years to December 2030.

This continued exemption provides for an ease of doing business in Ireland and spares some companies the costs associated with switching systems. The Bill also contains a new requirement that only companies registered in Ireland before the commencement of the Bill will benefit from its provisions. Sinn Féin welcomes the insertion of that requirement in the Bill. This is being included to prevent future inversions which have a damaging effect on Ireland's international reputation.

With this extra criteria, extending the deadline until 2030 cannot be seen as Ireland encouraging further inversions. Any measure that benefits Ireland's international reputation is welcome.

I have met with the coalition for Irish international companies on a number of occasions, most recently last week, and they were anxious to get this Bill passed to avoid unnecessary financial expenditure if it were to be delayed. The companies concerned, as Deputy Niall Collins said, employ over 8,000 people in high quality skilled jobs across the State.

Should the current deadline of 2020 stand, they will need to start preparations for an alternative strategy straight away. I understand the Bill passed through the Seanad quickly last month with cross-party support. I hope it can proceed as quickly as possible. The Minister of State has our full support in this.

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