Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will come back to the other question Senator Norris asked.

On the issue Senator Mac Lochlainn raised in respect of fewer note disclosures, we have gone as far as the directive allows regarding what we require from small companies. I agree that balance is needed and I believe the Bill achieves that. I thank the Senator for his comments on the annual reports on forestry and mining. Senators Reilly and Boyhan made similar comments and I also thank them. We want to get as much transparency as possible.

Senator Davitt asked about the delay. The Companies Act 2014 took ten years to draft and two years to enact. I accept that there has been a delay in transposing this statutory instrument and that is regrettable. The directive was quite thorny. It threw up difficult issues and I hope section 14 will ease the effects of the delay. I apologise for the delay but the directive was very complex and complicated.

I assure Senator McDowell that I am open to looking at having a single text. It has been the policy of the Department in drafting that a single text is possible with a single citation. We will look at that.

I again thank Senators Boyhan and Reilly for their comments. I will return to another issue raised by Senator Norris.