Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One of the broad criticisms made when the crisis hit a number of years ago was that we did not have sufficient legislation on the books. That was true of financial and economic legislation, but our companies legislation was not codified correctly either, which to some extent is what this Bill is doing. The demerging of the common law and statutory legislation can only be welcomed.

It is crucial that this legislation does two things. First, it should make it easier to do business and, second, it should make it less costly. I speak as an employer of two staff. As the Minister said earlier, almost 90% of companies registering with the CRO are private limited companies, yet a huge quantity of the legislation deals with the PLCs.

I mixed up the explanatory memorandum with the Bill. It was suggested earlier that a simplified executive summary should be available, so that if somebody was interested in starting his or her company, he or she would be able to get to grips with the big-ticket items in the Bill very quickly. That would be helpful.

It would also be helpful, as was mentioned earlier, if we could have some form of a tiered system. I know that the legislation has to apply to all companies, but one cannot compare some of the blue chip companies that trade here internationally and at the level at which they do so, in billions of euro, with a small company that has one director. It is a good thing that it is now permissible to have one director rather than there needing to be two. One just cannot compare like with like. For small and medium enterprises - I think that 60% of people are employed in companies of three people or fewer - we should relieve the burden of red tape and excessive bureaucracy if that is possible.

I want to touch on two more issues. Senator Bacik referred earlier to phoenix companies. Many people in business in Ireland, whether small traders or trading as a small limited company, have a relationship of trust with those with whom they trade. They give credit in the expectation that, if they are owed, they will be paid. It is galling for anybody who is in business to see companies close down in an opportune manner and then start up again with the objective of doing out of money the people with whom they have traded, especially in the manner that Senator Bacik touched on earlier. Among a lot of people who trade, their word is their bond. A cheque is only as good as when it is paid, and people rarely if ever give out cheques if they are not to be honoured. I have a real issue with phoenix companies. There are too many people who bring into disrepute the reputation of good Irish business people by trading in that manner and the legislation should be harsh on them.

One point on which I agree with Senator Barrett - sometimes we agree; sometimes we do not - is in relation to auditing. We have spoken hard words on the record about the large auditing companies. These were the people who audited our banks and said that they were fine just a few months before they crashed. The auditing structure should not be easy and flexible. There should be strong auditing oversight wherever possible. I can only assume that somewhere within the Bill, which reminds in its size of one of the 01 directories that one would get many years ago, a strong auditing regime is provided for.