Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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357. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to legislate in order that company executives must hold bonus shares for periods of at least five years further to recent recommendations by the Financial Reporting Council in the UK; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37353/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Companies listed on the Main Securities Market of the Irish Stock Exchange plc, trading as Euronext Dublin, are required to comply with both the UK Corporate Governance Code and the Irish Corporate Governance Annex.

The Listing Rules of the Stock Exchange require every company listed on the Main Securities Market to state in its annual report how the principles of the UK Corporate Governance Code have been applied. They must also confirm that they have complied with the Code's provisions or – where they have not – provide an explanation. This is referred to as the ‘comply or explain’ approach.

The Code is not a rigid set of rules and the ‘comply or explain’ approach provides flexibility to companies, recognising that an alternative to following a provision may be justified in particular circumstances if good governance can be achieved by other means.

The 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code was published on the 16th of July 2018 by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The revised UK Code takes effect from 1 January 2019 in the UK. One of the provisions in the Code provides that "remuneration schemes should promote long-term shareholdings by executive directors that support alignment with long-term shareholder interests". The revised Code extends the minimum vesting and holding period from three to five years or more for shares awarded to executive directors under a company's long-term incentive plan.

The enforcement of the existing Corporate Governance Code and the application of revised UK Code is a matter for Euronext Dublin.