Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I have great difficulty with this. I was delighted to hear Senator O'Toole's argument and what he was trying to achieve. What we are all trying to achieve is something with which nobody could disagree. I strongly believe this compliance statement will be cumbersome, costly and, in most cases, ineffective. Directors will be required, under threat of a statutory offence, to certify that their company is in compliance with every aspect of the law.

Senator Coghlan suggested we should limit it to tax laws, which is correct. Directors will have to be able to certify that their company is compliant, not only with company and tax laws but also with environment, health and safety and employment laws. They will have to become policemen and detectives in their own companies. There is only one way they can do so which is by engaging expensive new internal audit or consultancy measures to check out every possible breach of the law before they certify compliance. That is what I understand this measure to mean. Apart from any other consideration, it will become extremely difficult to hire non-executive directors, as has been said by a number of speakers, willing to take on this burden of responsibility because it would be an offence if they failed to comply.

The most damaging aspect of the compliance statement is that it will distract directors from the very task for which they have been taken on. Most Members who have spoken did not talk about the need to make a company successful. The jobs which come from a thriving successful company in a highly competitive business mean having to focus one's attention on making sure the company succeeds, manages to compete and survive in the marketplace with others. That is the reason one takes on directors. Their main task is to help a company succeed in a very competitive marketplace. If one says directors must do this but that they must also become policemen, one will distract them from that very task. Their eyes will be taken off the ball in companies which must thrive and grow in the interests of shareholders, employees and the business as a whole. They will end up becoming detectives, policemen or watchdogs and will be scared if they do not do so.