I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
The main purpose of the Bill is to remove certain restraints on the operations of the Industrial Credit Company which experience over the years has shown to be no longer necessary. The opportunity is also being availed of to increase the limits on the company's authorised share capital and borrowing powers and to introduce certain minor amendments to the existing legislation to give the company more flexibility in relation to the appointment of a managing director and general manager and to facilitate them in relation to the submission of their annual accounts to the Minister for Finance. A provision in relation to the position of directors and staff of the company who may become members of either House of the Oireachtas is also included in the Bill.
Under existing legislation—the Industrial Credit Act, 1933—the ICC may issue loans to companies operating in this country, whether or not they are registered here, but they may not take up shares in foreign-registered companies even to finance their Irish operations. The restriction in relation to share investment in foreign-registered companies was originally based on the principle that while loans can be secured by a charge on the assets within the State share capital cannot, and that, accordingly, there was no way of ensuring that finance injected into a company in the form of share capital would be used for a particular purpose. This differentiation is not considered to be justified in modern conditions and it sets an unnecessary limitation on the scope of the ICC's facilities. Section 3 of the Bill has the effect of removing this limitation and gives the ICC powers to invest in the share capital of any company which operates a business in this country, whether or not it is registered within the State. The company will take precautions to ensure that any such share investment is used for the benefit of projects within the State.
Section 3 of the Bill also provides that the ICC may issue unsecured loans. Under present legislation the ICC may not lend money without security and this restriction is considered by the company to be anomalous. At times there are practical difficulties in obtaining adequate security for a loan and potentially desirable clients may be deterred from approaching the ICC for facilities because of their inability or unwillingness to give security for a loan. Besides, there may be occasions where the ICC might consider it desirable to give both a secured loan and an unsecured loan for a particular project. Competitor organisations are free to issue loans without security and the ICC feel that the existing legislation places them at a disadvantage. In the event of the winding up of a business concern loan capital even though unsecured would rank before share capital in the distribution of the assets. I might add that over 80 per cent of the ICC's investment in industry is in the form of loans including hire-purchase and leasing.
With the advent of freer trade it is already apparent that the need for Irish businesses to have external associations for the marketing of their goods abroad is becoming increasingly important. While the ICC may at present assist Irish-based companies in the acquisition, establishment or development of overseas subsidiary or associated companies, they can do so only by lending to or investing in the Irish parent company. They may not assist the overseas subsidiary or associated company direct. This is considered to be a shortcoming which should be removed so that, if a particular situation requires, the ICC may provide finance directly to a subsidiary or associated company rather than to the parent company. Section 3 of the Bill gives the extra power to the company in this regard subject to the overriding safeguard that such investment is likely to be of benefit to a trade or industry within the State. Before a company can qualify for subsidiary or associated status for the purpose of this section, more than one-fifth—in nominal value—of their voting shares must be held by the parent company.
In removing these various restrictions it has been considered preferable to restate in full the principal objects of the company rather than merely to amend the existing provisions of the 1933 Act. Section 3 has been drafted with this in mind.
The present authorised share capital of the ICC is £10 million while the limit on the company's borrowing powers is £15 million. The issued share capital is now approximately £8.8 million, virtually all of which is held by the Minister for Finance, while total borrowing by the company is approximately £12 million. The company's activities have expanded rapidly during the past few years; for instance, the provision made in the Public Capital Programme for 1971-72 for assistance to industry by the ICC is £9.3 million —including £1.8 million for loans by its subsidiary, Shipping Finance Corporation—compared with an outturn of £6.3 million—including £2.0 million for Shipping Finance Corporation—in 1970-71. It is expected that the present expansionary trend will continue and, accordingly, it is desirable to ensure that the statutory limits of share investment and borrowings will be adequate to meet the company's needs during the next four or five years. It is proposed, therefore, to raise the share capital limit to £12 million—section 2—and the borrowing limit to £30 million— section 5. It is hoped that an increasing share of the company's new capital requirements will be forthcoming from non-Exchequer sources including receipts from its recently introduced deposits scheme.
Under existing legislation the ICC must have a managing director. The board of the ICC wish to have this compulsory provision modified so as to give them the discretionary power to appoint a managing director if they see fit, and also to appoint a general manager. The existing statutory arrangements are considered to be too inflexible as they require that the chief executive must always be chosen from among the small number of board members. In fact since May, 1969, when the latest serving managing director retired, the post of chief executive has been filled by a general manager in anticipation of amending legislation. Section 4 of the Bill covers the proposed change in the arrangements.
I have mentioned earlier that provision is being made in section 5 for raising the statutory limit on borrowing by the company to £30 million. The same section also provides that the company may borrow in currencies other than Irish currency. The existing statutory provisions relating to borrowing by the company have been interpreted as empowering the company to borrow in Irish currency only. Suitable opportunities for foreign borrowing may arise from time to time and in fact arrangements for a loan from the World Bank have been substantially completed. It is considered that there should be no restriction on foreign borrowing where it is in the national interest. Since the 1933 legislation no borrowing could be undertaken by the company except with the consent of the Minister for Finance and it is not the intention to alter this arrangement. For the sake of simplicity, section 5 sets out in full the new proposed borrowing powers which will replace the earlier provisions.
At present the ICC are required to submit their annual accounts, duly audited, to the Minister for Finance within 90 days after the end of each accounting year. As the volume of their business grows the company are finding it increasingly difficult to meet this deadline and have asked for some relief. Provision is being made in section 6 that in any year, on application by the company, the Minister for Finance may extend the 90 day period to whatever extent he considers reasonable.
Existing legislation empowers the Minister for Finance to guarantee the company's borrowings. As a consequence of the extended borrowing powers being provided for in section 5 it is necessary to extend similarly the Minister's existing powers to give guarantees. This is the purpose of section 7. For instance, the World Bank loan to which I have already referred will need to be guaranteed under this section.
I should mention here that at the Committee Stage of the Bill I propose to introduce an amendment to section 7 to provide that in addition to guaranteeing principal and interest of a loan, the Minister may guarantee any incidental expenses payable by the ICC in relation to such a loan. The World Bank has specified that a condition of the loan at present being negotiated shall be that, in addition to guaranteeing the principal and interest, the Minister for Finance must also guarantee the commitment fee payable in respect of the loan and also any premiums for which the ICC may be liable in the event of their repaying all or part of the loan prior to the scheduled dates for repayment.
The Bill also makes certain provisions—section 8—as regards membership of the Houses of the Oireachtas by directors, officers and servants of the company. These provisions which for some time past have been included in legislation relating to State-sponsored bodies are not in the ICC legislation and it is considered that the opportunity afforded by the present Bill should be taken to extend them to the ICC. Since the Bill was drafted, however, I have come to the conclusion that subsection (2) (c) should only apply where the staff member would qualify for an Oireachtas pension. I consider that the simplest way of rectifying the matter is to delete the subsection entirely at the Committee Stage and to provide for the matter in a general Bill dealing with the directors and staff of State-sponsored bodies who become Members of either House of the Oireachtas which is at present being prepared.
The intention of the general Bill will be to introduce uniform arrangements for all State-sponsored bodies including those which already have their own provisions governing this matter in their individual legislation. So far as superannuation provisions are concerned the intention will be to ensure that the period of Oireachtas service of a staff member may not be reckoned both for an Oireachtas pension and for a staff pension. If, however, he does not qualify for an Oireachtas pension, he will, on payment of the appropriate pension contributions, have the period of his Oireachtas service, during which he was seconded from his employment, reckoned for pension purposes under his occupational scheme.
The Industrial Credit Company have been in operation since 1933 when they were established to provide financial facilities for industry. The company are operated on commercial lines with due regard to their role as an instrument of national development. Their facilities have been availed of over the entire range of industry and in all parts of the country by large, medium and small undertakings. They provide a full range of industrial financing facilities to promote both the establishment of new industries and the development of existing ones. Since their incorporation they have provided capital for Irish industry by way of loans, share investment, machinery finance and guarantees to the extent of more than £52 million and in addition they have underwritten capital flotations in excess of £21 million. Their recent entry into the field of finance for the distributive sector, the establishment of a separate company—Mergers Ltd—to initiate and facilitate mergers and the introduction of a scheme for the provision of finance for under-capitalised concerns are all indicative of the company's flexibility in servicing the varying requirements of the business community. The new mergers subsidiary specialises in the field of mergers and takeovers, undertaking share evaluations, advising on terms and assisting in negotiations for merger.
The capital requirements of both existing and new industries have changed materially in recent times both as to their nature and extent, and the current activities of the ICC must, therefore, be seen against a much more sophisticated and developed situation than that which prevailed up to a few years ago when demands for capital were relatively small and the sources from which these demands might be met were very few. It is essential that the company should be in a position to provide capital on very flexible terms towards the further development of Irish industry. For this reason it is considered that in the present industrial environment the existing restrictions on share capital investment and unsecured loans should be removed. It is equally important that adequate funds be available for the company's expanding activities. I recommend the Bill for the approval of the House.