Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

These amendments relate to the manner in which a majority of the limited partnership shall be calculated by reference to the value of their contributions made to them, at the time being, in the investment limited partnership. The structure of the investment limited partnership is not based on one partner, one vote. It is based on their contribution to the partnership as outlined in the partnership agreement when it was created.

What we did say is that the issue of control is separate from the beneficial owner. These are two distinct issues. If one has over 25% then one is a beneficial owner. One can be deemed to be a beneficial owner if one has under 25% but one can effectively have control. Even though one's shareholding is less than 25%, if one is in a position to exercise control then one becomes a beneficial owner in that situation. As I did say, obviously one could have more than three people with more than 25% so it is possible that three or four people could be beneficial owners but it does not mean that they actually control it because there can be other beneficial owners with equal shares as well. So the 25% rule does not come in here. Like in any company, voting rights depend on how many shares one owns. It is not a mutual society like a building society where one person has one vote. When one attends a company's arrangement or meeting the strength of one's vote is determined by the number of shares one holds. The principle of the one partner, one vote is not part of this legislation.