Derek McDowell (Labour)

Unlike Senator O'Toole and not having been a member of the audit review group, I still do not understand the cogent argument against simply requiring a person to be a member of one of the groups in order to be called an accountant. Can the Minister of State indicate the number calling themselves accountants who are not qualified in what we consider to be the normal way? I know of some myself and it is fairly commonplace. It would be helpful if the Minister of State indicated the number of accountants, or people we understand to be accountants, who are members of this group and the numbers operating outside the group.

The real difficulty is that if we go through an investigation or disciplinary process, with all the standards in this Bill being imposed, if someone falls foul of that process he or she can simply opt out of the prescribed body and continue to operate. The situation is different for solicitors or medical practitioners; if they fall foul of ethics, the rules of the profession or the law, they are effectively debarred from practising. That will not happen if the elaborate disciplinary procedure in the Bill is transgressed, as people can simply opt out and continue to practise as if nothing had happened. That is entirely unsatisfactory.