Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome the Bill. As the Minister of State has outlined, the Bill provides the option for companies to hold general meetings partially or fully by the use of electronic communication technology. This is something we have had the technical capacity to do for some time but Covid-19 required the holding of more meetings online and we have all seen the benefits of that. There are time benefits for participants, who can simply log on for an hour or two instead of spending a day or more travelling to and from a meeting. There are also environmental benefits when people do not have to travel for meetings. This is one of the positives to come from Covid. It is welcome we are recognising that by ensuring companies continue to have the option to hold virtual meetings when the interim legislation providing that option expires next month.

I welcome the introduction of a graduated regime in respect of late filing with the Companies Registration Office. As the Minister of State outlined, the current system involves an automatic loss of audit exemption after the first late filing, which is overly harsh, particularly these days when SMEs have considerable paperwork and regulation to work through. There are usually genuine reasons for late filing from SMEs and many face considerable daily pressures. The graduated regime to be enacted by the Bill is a more appropriate framework and will result in significant financial and time-management savings for SMEs.

I highlight the strengthening of the Corporate Enforcement Authority, the Companies Registration Office and the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority. The Bill will ensure they have the appropriate legislative tools to investigate and prosecute breaches of company law. These three bodies play an essential role in ensuring Ireland has an appropriate framework for business, maintaining our reputation as an attractive place for companies to operate. The technical measures in the Bill will mean these bodies are more capable of fulfilling their roles to ensure Ireland continues to be recognised as a positive place to do business, with a company law structure that is clear and appropriate.

I believe the legislation will have a positive impact on SMEs, in addition to maintaining the stability of our company law framework. I thank the Minister of State and Department for their work on bringing the Bill forward.