Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

Thank you for your help, a Chathaoirligh.

I might compile a list of directors who appear on the boards of all the big companies. I may even ask the public to send me names. Directors flew to New York for meetings of the governors of the Bank of Ireland and went to locations such as Monaco for celebrations. However, they did not take their responsibilities seriously and this Bill will make sure they do so. Let them be well aware of that.

Senator Maurice Hayes is a most distinguished non-executive member of the board of Independent News and Media. I would exclude a man of his calibre from my list. I do not say all directors are not compliant. There are some wonderful, qualified, unselfish non-executive directors of companies who take their jobs very seriously indeed. I apologise to Senator Maurice Hayes, the man who brought the Sam Maguire Cup back to County Down and who knew my relative, Mr. Alf Murray, a former president of the GAA, if he took any offence at what I said yesterday about non-executive directors. People of the calibre of Senator Hayes, who is doing an excellent job, are excluded from what I was speaking about yesterday.

I am a customer of AIB and I was nominated to the Seanad by the Irish Bankers' Federation. Employees of that bank have been laid off. Customers and staff of the bank are paying for the inactivity of the non-executive directors of AIB. If some of them have to go to jail for not complying with the law, so be it. As far as I can see, it is all gain and no pain for non-executive directors. Companies go into liquidation and employees lose their jobs because of the ineffectiveness of their boards of directors, yet they never apologise. I have never heard a non-executive director apologise for his or her inactivity which allowed a company to go to the wall.

I am glad this measure is included in the Bill. Non-executive directors seem to be queuing up for appointments. Some of them are on ten boards, they go from boardroom to boardroom, sign in, get their expenses and are not really worried whether or not a company is complying with rules or regulations. One hears at the tribunal hearings of directors who had little concern about the activities of their companies. The measure may be strong and may put a serious onus on non-executive directors. However, I believe it will cause them to think twice before becoming non-executive directors and they will take their jobs very seriously indeed. I want to see this section left in the Bill.