Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I commend the Senators on the comments they made in respect of this matter. Senator O'Toole tabled amendments on this matter on Committee Stage. As promised at that point, the Tánaiste reflected on the inclusion of a provision in the Bill to require that directors' compliance statements be provided. Section 45 of the Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Act 2003 provided for the insertion of sections 205C and 205F into the Companies Act 1990. This would have imposed such a requirement on certain companies, namely, all public limited companies and large private companies with a turnover of greater than €15.2 million and a balance sheet of greater than €7.5 million. Following the enactment, this provision was not commenced pending the preparation of guidance as to how the requirements could be complied with. During the development of this guidance, which was led by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, differing views emerged with regard to the obligations to be imposed and the procedures that would be required to comply with the provisions. This gave rise to concerns in respect of the potential cost of compliance.

This matter was discussed, including in the context of the proposals put forward by the Director of Corporate Enforcement, by the company law review group and differing views were expressed. Eventually, it was the majority view of the company law review group that was accepted.