Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. I welcome the amendments proposed in this Bill and wholeheartedly support them. I particularly welcome the provisions that allow for meetings to be held virtually as it will be a particular relief to companies anxious to fulfil their corporate obligations but constrained by their constitutions and company law heretofore barring the validity of virtually held meetings.

When one hears the word "company" an image springs to mind of large multinationals or well known indigenous companies. That is a natural assumption. Over the past number of weeks there has been discussion in this House on small and medium enterprises. The local enterprise offices have provided them with a wealth of support and the programme for Government assures their heightened stature. However, there is a group of companies and directors that can be overlooked. It is on their behalf that I would like to address my remarks.

Many community organisations and entities within our communities are charities and volunteer groups. For the procurement of funding purposes they are obligated to establish companies that are run by volunteers who are nonetheless directors for the purposes of company law. A large number of exceptional outreaches to the community within my own constituency of Dublin South Central are powered by volunteers who are passionate about their community and of necessity their roles have obliged them to become company directors. The obligations of company directorship, particularly at this time, can be onerous. We need to give due consideration to their worries and concerns. My own experience of serving on volunteer boards is that volunteers are conscientious workers who want the best for their organisations and their employees. I am mindful of the number of volunteer directors who are obligated to make serious decisions, existential decisions on the viability of their organisations. In some instances, these are organisations that they have founded, nurtured and loved over many years and they are wrestling with the obligations and concern for their employees and dealing with issues such as redundancy and so on. I am actively supporting a number of organisations within my own constituency in that regard.

I welcome the work of The Wheel which has been instrumental in providing training and networking opportunities, particularly for these two groups, which in law, are companies. I also acknowledge that these groups have been widely funded and supported and partnered by Government. The excellent changes encompassed in this Bill and entirely in the company law obligations entered into by directors need to be supported by an information campaign specifically targeting these type of volunteer directors. They need a means of information on their obligations, alleviating their concerns and their conscientious worries and giving them support in simple, non-legalese language. Going forward, where we to enter into a campaign of information we would be affording that information and support to volunteer directors and, thereby, opening up the opportunity for more people to become involved and volunteer as directors on boards, who would be otherwise put off. We open the opportunity then for a more diverse representation on boards.

We live in a world where the law and the obligations are fast moving. For example, privacy law - wearing my own hat - brings obligations in respect of personal data and well-meaning people involved in a volunteer capacity, including directors, can inadvertently breach privacy law, deeming a sharing or disclosure of personal data to be harmless in the context of the objectives of the business or organisation. The provisions in this Bill for virtual meetings have attendant clauses and criteria that obligate the standard of security and privacy in the electronic communications. In the absence of a large IT budget or the necessary internal expertise, we may need to be providing information supports such as the required ISO standard and so on.We need to put those in place. I ask the Minister of State to consider an information campaign specifically for this cohort of directors. He has my full support for the Bill.