David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charles Flanagan, cannot be here and sends his apologies. He has asked me to make a statement on his behalf in terms of the Corporate Manslaughter (No. 2) Bill that has been introduced by Senators Mark Daly, Robbie Gallagher and Lorraine Clifford-Lee. I thank the Senators for providing me with an opportunity to restate again the Government's approach to the draft legislation.

The Bill completed Second Stage in October 2016 and is based on a draft contained in the 2005 report by the Law Reform Commission on corporate killing. As Members will be aware, in each of its reports the Law Reform Commission publishes a draft Bill to translate its recommendations into draft legislation. It is the Minister's understanding that it is not expected that such Bills will be accepted without due consideration by the Attorney General and without appropriate amendments, whether from Government or Opposition. Each draft Bill requires careful consideration and generally much work. To the best of the Minister's knowledge, this has been the approach to such Bills to date. In saying this, he recognises the value of such draft Bills and also the excellent and valued contribution of the Law Reform Commission to public policy development through its reports.

The Bill sponsored by the Senators is almost identical to the draft Bill published by the Law Reform Commission in its report on corporate killing. As the House will know from the Second Stage debate, the Government did not oppose the Bill in principle but did highlight specific aspects of the Bill as drafted that would require greater consideration. The Government also highlighted that a range of Government amendments would be needed. Consequently, some of the sponsoring Senators met officials from my Deportment in March 2017. As the Minister understands it, the officials outlined the complex issues raised by the Bill and indicated that further legal advice would be sought. Expert legal advice was subsequently received and, essentially, confirmed that the Bill raised concerns that would need to be addressed.

The present Minister understands that the then Minister subsequently wrote to Senator Mark Daly in May 2017 explaining these legal concerns in detail and offered to facilitate a further meeting to progress the Bill.