Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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284. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the legislative provisions in respect of his Department that has been passed by the Oireachtas since 2011 but have not come into effect to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24153/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department has identified the following legislative provisions that have been passed by the Oireachtas since 2011 but have not come into effect to date: sections 2, 7 and 8 of the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 have not been commenced or been given effect to date. It is expected that Section 2 of that Act, which provides for small private companies to apply directly to the Circuit Court for examinership, will be commenced shortly. The commencement of this Section, under Section 11(3) of the 2013 Act, will coincide with the date of giving effect to the revised Circuit Court Rules necessary to facilitate this.

Section 7 of that Act provides for the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority (IAASA) to raise a levy to fund the discharge by it of external quality assurance functions with regard to the audit of Public Interest Entities (PIEs). Under Section 11(5) and (6), as referred to under Section 11(3), it is provided that effect cannot be given to the provisions of Section 7 prior to the transfer of this quality assurance function to IAASA, which requires further legislation.

Section 8 of that Act provides for Ireland to take up an EU Member State option set out in Commission Decision 2011/30/EU to apply investigation and penalty systems to certain third country auditors/audit entities which carry out audits on companies incorporated in specific third countries and territories, whose transferable securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market in the State. An Order is required under Section 11(3) to commence Section 8 under which Regulations may be made in this matter. It is the intention to designate IAASA as the competent authority for the functions in question when further necessary operational arrangements have been put in place.