James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No need at all.

I welcome the Minister to the House and welcome and commend the Bill. Contrary to the assertions of my colleague, Senator Aidan Davitt, who probably had to read a script prepared by Fianna Fáil HQ, this comes as a result of multiple sides of the House being canvassed by major international companies that will be subjected to what I think we all agree would be unnecessary cost. It was one of the few things that united us all at the Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. There was no dissenting voice. This was an issue that had to be addressed. It was originally intended that the Minister would deal with it in the statutory auditing legislation, but it was decided that it would be provided for in separate legislation. We also did not want it to delay the Companies (Accounting) Bill, as that is very important to small business, which wanted it expedited as quickly as possible. The Minister has been as good as her word. Having been canvassed by various companies, I canvassed her on it. It made absolute sense to the Department and the Minister and I think we are all agreed that it was something that needed to be done and done quickly to give comfort to companies which would have been exposed to millions of euros of unnecessary expense.

When we speak as a House on helping business to create more employment, whether it be that of small or medium enterprises, home-grown businesses or foreign direct investment and multinationals, we all have one purpose at heart, which is not to create unnecessary expense for business. This was a classic case. I, therefore, commend the Minister on taking such speedy action. It is important that we remember where we were. I am not trying to score political points. These are just facts.