Ciarán Cannon (Progressive Democrats)

We are about trying to strike a balance. We oppose the section and believe it would act as a major disincentive for people to get involved in entrepreneurial effort and a major disincentive for people to become directors of companies. The section, which amends section 40 of the Companies Act 1990, would appear to provide for directors to be held or deemed to have committed criminal offences regardless of whether they knew or had the belief that unauthorised transactions were being entered into. We have serious reservations about whether it is possible to impose guilt by association. Is that fair or rational? My wife and I are co-directors of a small company in Galway and I hope that neither my wife nor I would carry out any actions that would bring the company into disrepute.