Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I move amendment No. 32:

In page 43, to delete lines 15 to 53 and in page 44, to delete lines 1 to 46 and substitute the following:

"(2) Subject to subsection (3) and subsection (14) the board of directors of a public limited company shall establish a committee of directors to be known as the Audit Committee. The responsibilities of audit committees shall be determined by a Code of Practice as operated by listed public companies and approved by the Irish Stock Exchange.

(3) Subject to subsection (14) the board of directors of each unlisted public limited company shall either:

(a) establish an audit committee that meets the requirements of this section,

(b) state in their report under section 158 of the Principal Act that they have not done so and explain the reasons for their decision.".

I return to a point I made at the beginning of the debate. Audit committees are almost universal features of listed public companies. They have a sensible role and provide a measure of protection and reassurance for outside shareholders who have little or no contact with the company in question. Many larger companies have a significant number of such shareholders. The role of audit committees is to act as a watchdog on behalf of the hundreds or thousands of outside shareholders.