Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Ruane for putting forward her amendments. With the permission of the Chair, I will speak to amendment No. 1 and to amendment No. 2, which has been ruled out of order.

I thank the Senators for bringing forward amendment No. 1. It permits me to provide further clarity regarding the existing functions of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, which will become the functions of the new authority. The Director of Corporate Enforcement has responsibility for enforcement in respect of breaches of company law by companies, whether the breaches relate to financial information, the provision of non-financial information or compliance with the range of the statutory obligations on directors and companies under the Companies Act 2014. Section 10 provides for the functions of the new authority. It re-enacts the existing provisions of section 949 of the 2014 Act, which is being repealed by this Bill. Therefore, the new authority will have the same functions and powers that the director currently has. These include the power to undertake enforcement action in respect of non-compliance with the rules of the EU non-financial reporting directive, which are transposed by way of statutory instrument in SI 360 of 2017. I assure the Senator that the functions of the new authority will include enforcement in the areas of financial and non-financial information. Rather than providing clarity, the Senators' amendment could inadvertently narrow the scope of the functions of the new authority. Therefore, I cannot support the amendment.

With regard to amendment No. 2, which was ruled out of order, I spoke at length in this House and the Dáil on the rationale behind the number that was decided upon. The number has been assessed and deemed proportionate and appropriate in the medium term. I sought the views of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, who agrees with this number. There is flexibility. While we are starting off with one member, we have the flexibility to increase the number to three.