Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

This amendment is to ensure continuity of membership by directors of committees of inquiry established by the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority, IAASA. Section 27 of the Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Act sets out the manner in which committees of inquiry of IAASA are constituted. The proposed amendment No. 6 is necessary as the term of office of one of the current directors of IAASA is due to expire in January 2010. That director was a member of a committee of inquiry by virtue of being a director and the concern was that the work of the committee would continue beyond January 2010, the expiry date of the term of office of the director concerned. At the expiry of his term of office, the director would no longer have an entitlement to his place on the committee which would cause the membership of the committee to change during the inquiry. A change in the make-up of a committee during an inquiry could raise questions of due process and fair procedures and may leave the process open to challenge by way of judicial review.

The proposed amendment provides that a person who is a director at the time of the formation of such a committee will be entitled to continue on that committee until the inquiry is completed. This will ensure the membership of the committee does not change during an inquiry and, therefore, due process and fair procedures will be observed in this regard.

The amendment will also ensure staff of IAASA can make preliminary enquiries into matters that come to the attention of IAASA before deciding whether such matters should be submitted to the board for further inquiry. The amendment will also provide that enquiries already ongoing will not be affected by proposed changes. Amendment No. 7 is consequential and simply adds reference to the 2003 Act in the Long Title of the Bill.