Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and wish the Bill well. I appeal to Members to expedite it as quickly as possible. All the professions affected by the legislation made a submission earlier to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. Senator O'Toole is like the 16th member of the Government and has played an important role. He is president of the ICTU and an excellent public official. He was involved in the preparation of the report of the review group, which led to this legislation.

Companies generating a turnover less than €315,000 should not be audited. The threshold should be increased to €4.5 million. I hope the Minister of State will address this anomaly as companies will be put at a disadvantage as against companies in the North and Europe. It is unusual that both the Minister of State and Senator O'Toole have had an input into the legislation. I would like to hear their views on this issue.