Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of his investigations and follow-up following the closure of Clerys; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2143/16]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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This question looks for an update to be given to the House on the Minister of State's follow-up investigations into the closure of Clerys department store. I particular want to focus on section 224 of the Companies Act, which states directors must have regard to the interests of employees. I welcome the report the Minister of State commissioned from Kevin Duffy and Nessa Cahill, both of whom are very well skilled to do it. However, the deadline is not until 11 March. I do not know what is going to come of the report but the existing legislation might have provisions whereby these issues can be pursued.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Elements of existing legislation are currently under scrutiny. As the Deputy will be aware in the context of the review, I commissioned the report which I presented to Cabinet in July. Reference was also made to section 599 in company law and we think this is still relevant and may yet be used to test the law in this case. Last week the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, and I announced a twin-track examination of protections in law for employees and unsecured creditors, particularly to ensure limited liability or restructuring are not used to avoid a company's obligations to its employees and unsecured creditors. We have appointed two experts to examine the legal protections for workers, particularly where operations and assets may be moved to separate legal entities as part of a restructuring. This examination will specifically look at situations where valuable assets in a company are separated from the operating entity, and how the position of employees can be better protected in such situations. The experts have been asked to report by 11 March 2016.

As part of the twin-track process, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, also requested the Company Law Review Group to examine legislation with a view to recommending ways company law could be amended to better safeguard employees and creditors. In addition, on the establishment of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, in 2001, the existing functions of the Minister relating to the enforcement of the Companies Acts transferred to the director of corporate enforcement. These functions included the investigation of suspected offences under the Companies Acts and prosecuting detected breaches of the Acts. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has no investigative function under the Companies Act, 2014. The liquidators of OCS Operations Limited, which was the firm operating Clerys, have confirmed that they have submitted a report in the past couple of weeks to the ODCE in accordance with their statutory duties. The director of corporate enforcement is independent in the exercise of his statutory functions.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I have written to the ODCE asking it to look at the whole scenario that unfolded, particularly relating to section 224. What happened was cowboy capitalism at its worst and, as outlined by "RTE Investigates" a few weeks ago, there was a high level of thought and investment in preparing it. While we delay with our response there is a danger it could happen again. We are in a bit of a lacuna because nobody knows where we will be on 11 March, except the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, but what is going to happen then? Has the Minister of State had any engagement with the liquidators since they submitted their report? Have we any sense of Government taking an active interest in the specific case so as to avoid a repeat of what happened here?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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One of the first actions that was taken in the context of the Clerys liquidation was the undertaking of a review by me of the circumstances around it. We were all appalled at the treatment of the Clerys workers and concession holders. We were very focused on the need for the Department of Social Protection, as the main creditor who had to pay out of its insolvency fund for statutory entitlements as workers were left high and dry, to become members of the committee of inspection under the liquidation process. The Department of Social Protection has been working at a very senior level with the liquidators. It is still possible that, outside the process the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, and I initiated last week, we could look at the interface between employment law and company law and see how workers and creditors can be better protected. A review of certain aspects of company law as it applies to situations like this is possible via the Company Law Review Group and it is still open to a creditor, under section 599 of the Companies Act, to go after related assets of a company in circumstances such as these.

The liquidation has not been completed yet. I am aware from media reports that Deputy Calleary has written to the ODCE relating to certain aspects of the applications of company law to cases like this.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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To date the liquidation has cost the taxpayer over €2.5 million. Natrium or the previous holding company have not paid anything. This is money which could have been spent in many other places but people are running away with millions in their back pocket and substantial assets while 600 workers and concession holders, who are often forgotten, are left high and dry.

This may be a question for the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Damien English, but watching the programme it struck me that, now that resources are becoming available again, we need to move back into in-company training and give support to companies for the upskilling of existing staff. Job demands are changing so much that people who may have been in a job for some years need to be given support and employers who want to upskill their staff need to be given assistance to bring skill levels up to where we are at in the current jobs market. I ask the Minister of State to look at Skillnets in the context of a new budget.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I agree that the focus needs to change. The Skillnets programme is operated by a lot of our business representative organisations and I have seen some of the programmes sponsored by, for example, ISME, which work very well for SMEs right across the country in upskilling people who are in employment to make sure we have the appropriate skills for the job and career challenges of the future. There is no doubt that this is very important.

However, I am satisfied that we have reached this point now with the Clerys situation, a situation that appalled all of us. The trade unions, for example, are satisfied that we have a comprehensive review of that intersection between employment law and company law to try to ensure, in so far as we can, that the occurrence of situations such as that is minimised in the future so other people across the country do not have to experience what was experienced by the Clerys workers. I also wish to pay tribute to the dignity of the Clerys workers and the way in which they went about their campaign to have a review of the law initiated to ensure such situations do not recur. They were not putting themselves first. They were treated in an appalling fashion and I pay tribute to the way they have conducted themselves over the last period of time during very difficult circumstances.