Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. The Bill is part of a package of measures designed to ensure that Ireland's reputation as a top-tier country in terms of its business environment is underpinned by a robust company law enforcement framework. The policy approach underpinning the Bill is that enforcement bodies, in order to be effective, must be statutorily independent, appropriately resourced, accountable and with a well-defined mandate.

I refer to increased funding. In our pre-legislative scrutiny report, the joint committee of which I am a member recommended that the level of resourcing be kept under constant review, with the possibility to increase staffing and other resources when required. An exercise to estimate the budgetary requirements for the establishment of the corporate enforcement authority commenced in 2018 and at that point the annual budget of the ODCE was €5 million. Following an assessment of the CEA resourcing needs upon its establishment, the 2018 baseline was increased by €1 million in 2019 to a budget of slightly more than €6 million. This increased level has been revisited subsequently in anticipation of the establishment of the new authority. As the Minister of State noted, that represents a 20% increase in the level of funding to the ODCE.

It is important to note on the record certain other important provisions in the Bill relating to new grounds for the restriction of company directors. The Bill contains a new ground under section 819 whereby in the case of certain directorial failures, the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the liquidator or the receiver will be able to apply to the court for an order of restriction of a director. These failures include: failure to convene a general meeting of shareholders for the purpose of nominating a named liquidator; failure to table a motion at such a meeting to nominate a named liquidator; and failure to provide the required notice to employees in winding up. The first two of those grounds arise from the CLRG report on the protection of employees.

The Minister of State touched on the issue of transparency in his contribution. The register of companies is a specified body under Schedule 5 to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. It is a body that may use personal public service numbers. The measure in the Bill will oblige directors of companies to supply their PPSN to the register in certain situations, such as when incorporating a company for the first time, submitting an annual return or notifying the register of a change in director or secretary.This is proposed to support the accuracy of the register and to deal with the possibility of duplication. This type of procedure is currently implemented under the registry of beneficial ownership. This is a commitment that has been made for the past number of years, by the Minister of State, in particular, since he took up his role in the Department.

There has always been a perception that white-collar crime has not been dealt with as well as it should have been. A famous case involving someone collapsed a number of years ago. On the back of that, certainly from a public perspective, there was a lack of trust in people of a certain type being held to account. The main thrust of this Bill, in addition to putting it into law and having a measure that will tackle this issue, is to increase public trust. I noted that at the end of his contribution the Minister of State said that this will be a milestone. It will be a milestone, in that it is something that has been promised for a number of years.

As Senator Malcolm Byrne said, one of the concerns we hear a lot about is resourcing, in addition to the need for extra resources. The Minister of State said in his contribution that staff will be increased by 50%, which is significant and needs to be acknowledged. That type of resourcing needs to be continually reviewed as we go forward.

I am happy to welcome the debate and to support the Bill with my Fine Gael colleagues.