Brendan Kenneally (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a brief comment on this Bill. Ministers are sometimes accused of not being totally au fait with the subject matter of legislation they are introducing. That certainly cannot be said in this instance. The Minister of State dealing with the Bill has a great deal of expertise in the area concerned. As an accountant, I have looked at the situation from both sides. Initially, I worked with a firm of accountants for five years during which I had considerable auditing experience. I subsequently worked for 11 years with a company in the fresh food industry, in the course of which I had considerable contact with Senator Quinn's company.

During my term as a Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas since 1989, there has not been any primary legislation in this area, just regulations. I appreciate that there was a companies Act in 1990 but that did not really deal with the area covered by the Bill. During my time in accountancy practice the bible was the Companies Act 1963. Accordingly, I am glad the legislation is now being updated. I agree there is need for a supervisory and regulatory authority for recognised accountancy bodies. Previously, those bodies were self-regulatory and, by and large, did a good job. In my time there were only three or four accountancy bodies whereas there is now a plethora of different bodies and the situation could spiral out of control, with lower standards in some companies if not properly regulated. That could do a great deal of damage to the image of the profession. Accordingly, I am glad the Bill has been introduced.