Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the European Commission is developing a legislative initiative on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence. The detail of this sustainable corporate governance proposal is expected in the near future. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is following this file closely in both Brussels and Dublin and, while my Department has no direct role in the transposition of any directive of this nature, we stand ready to assist colleagues in that Department in any way we can. We are trying to work within an EU system that is in development to ensure what the Deputy is seeking, namely, to make adherence to human rights standards and sustainability standards mandatory as part of corporate governance. That is something we can develop collectively as the EU. The European Commission is giving good leadership on that issue and we certainly support that.

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