Results 421-440 of 1,279 for speaker:Michael Ahern

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: The purpose of these amendments is to allow the Minister to make regulations under this Act for the purpose of implementing the EU market abuse directive, market abuse regulation and supplemental directives. It is recognised that it can be particularly difficult to sustain and prosecute an allegation of market abuse, so much so that the new EU directive focuses on administrative sanctions...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: The offence is set out in section 30 which provides that a person guilty of an offence created by Irish market abuse law shall, without prejudice to any penalties provided by that law in respect of a summary conviction for the offence, be liable on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €10 million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or both. As the regulations must...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: Subsection (2) is for the most part a copy of the provision set out in the 1972 Act, including provisions creating indictable offences. The provision was set out on the advice of the Office of the Attorney General. Further advice has been requested and the matter will be clarified when we receive it.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: While a number of people have been alleged to have taken part in insider trading, I am aware of only one case which has been successfully prosecuted. I said speaking to sections 28 and 29 that the purpose of the amendments was to allow the Minister to make regulations. I continued: It is recognised that it can be particularly difficult to sustain and prosecute an allegation of market abuse,...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: Section 30 deals with civil cases. Section 109 of the Companies Act 1990 makes provision for civil liability for unlawful dealing. The action currently before the High Court involving Fyffes and DCC is such a case. It is considered that the capability should be retained in Irish company law going forward. As it does not arise directly from a requirement in the market abuse directive, it is...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: No.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: Yes.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: Section 33AK of the Central Bank Act 1942, inserted by section 26 of the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Act 2003, lays down the rules for the bank and IFSRA on the disclosure of confidential information. It is considered that the same considerations arise regarding the prospectus directive. Section 32 has already added the relevant market abuse directives to the...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: Section 33 allows the Minister to proscribe by provisional order any market to which market abuse law shall apply. It is important that requirements under the market abuse directives should be capable of being applied to any new market. Any provisional order made by the Minister must be confirmed by an Act of the Oireachtas. It is understood that the Irish Stock Exchange proposes to establish...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: It applies to all regulated exchanges at present. As Senator McDowell is aware, the Irish Enterprise Exchange has been established very recently by the Stock Exchange. We can apply the regulations if we so wish.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: The purpose of these amendments is to allow the Minister to make regulations under this Act for the purpose of implementing the prospectus Directive and prospectus regulation. Section 42 provides for penalties on convictions on indictment for offences under Irish prospectus law. This would cover a situation where securities are offered to the public or listed without issuing a prospectus....

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: The amendment corrects an error in the text which had come to our notice. Section 48 was already repealed by the Companies (Amendment) Act 1983 and for legal certainty it should not have been included here. I commend the amendment to the House.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: I outlined the approach we were taking to offers of securities to the public. In essence, we are moving to a situation of accepting the threshold set out in the prospectus directive as the threshold that should determine whether a full prospectus must be prepared. Where securities are offered to the public or listed on a recognised stock exchange, the prospectus directive provides that where...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: I do not.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: We have no idea. We have no statistics on this area.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: The philosophy behind this particular section is to make it less costly for small entrepreneurs to raise money and not to have them tied up in the considerable red tape and detail required under the prospectus directive. As Senator McDowell stated and as I said, there is a certain amount of risk involved in this area but we are not talking about large amounts of money. The people who would...

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: The threshold of €2.5 million was set by the EU. We are accepting that in our legislation.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: This retains what is in existing law. Under the directive we were not required to do this, but to ensure there is a comeback against people who would abuse the law we are retaining section 49.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: I might know a lot but I do not have all of those statistics in my head.

Seanad: Investment Funds, Companies and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2005: Committee and Remaining Stages. (26 Apr 2005)

Michael Ahern: Would it be cost-effective to investigate that, or would it be a waste of taxpayers' money?