Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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128. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the Duffy-Cahill report. [9246/23]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government, ‘Our Shared Future’ commits to “review whether the legal provisions surrounding collective redundancies and the liquidation of companies effectively protect the rights of workers”.

Following extensive engagement with the social partners, the ‘Plan of Action on Collective Redundancies following Insolvency’was published in June 2021. The Plan was also informed by the Cahill Duffy Report (April 2016) and the work of the Company Law Review Group (CLRG), which is a statutory body made up of representatives from a wide range of stakeholders and experts concerning the breadth of the Companies Act 2014.

The policy objective of this Plan is to further enhance the protection of employees in a collective redundancy in a way that does not unduly impede enterprises in the conduct of their business.

The Plan sets out several commitments to safeguard further the rights of workers including:

- To introduce amendments to employment law and company law dealing with matters related to collective redundancies following company insolvency,

- To provide an accessible guidance document to help workers and their representatives navigate the existing legal framework, and

- To establish a new Employment Law Review Group, (ERLG) which will act as an independent advisory expert group to help shape the formulation of policy and legislation in the area of employment rights.

Significant progress has been achieved in delivering on the various actions:

- The Guidance Document was published in December 2021. This provides clear and accessible information to employees facing a collective redundancy situation following a company insolvency on their rights and the remedies available to them.

- Work has commenced on establishing the ELRG. The immediate focus is to get the Group up and running, initially on a non-statutory basis, as soon as practicable in 2023.

- Four company law actions have been implemented: three on the quality and circulation of information to workers as creditors through the Companies (Rescue Process for Small and Micro Companies) Act 2021, and one action on imposing a statutory obligation on directors to consider the interests of creditors in the period leading up to insolvency through the European Communities (Preventive Restructuring) Regulations 2022.

The CLRG’s ‘Report on the consequences of certain corporate liquidations and restructuring practices, including splitting of corporate operations from asset holding entities in group structures’ has been considered by the Department in the context of the Plan of Action. The CLRG ultimately concluded that the incidence of abusive practices in corporate restructuring, while attracting significant attention, is in fact low. This conclusion was supported by the then Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement which noted that its reviews of liquidations indicate that in over 90% of all liquidations, company directors had acted honestly and responsibly. Notwithstanding this, the CLRG made recommendations for potential amendment to the Companies Act 2014 to further enhance and strengthen the regulatory framework.

It is intended to bring forward proposals to Government shortly which will implement outstanding employment law and company law legislative commitments set out in the Plan of Action.