As amendment No. 1 is consequential on amendment No. 3, they may be discussed together.
Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Sections 12 and 13 agreed to.
SECTION 14
Government amendment No. 1:
In page 10, line 23, to delete “sections 16 to 23” and substitute “sections 16 to 23”.
As the Acting Chairman said, the amendment is a consequential amendment to the proposed insertion of a new section 16 which will require a renumbering of sections. It is a technical amendment. The revised text will eventually read “Sections 16 to 24” when the new section is added but under the new legislative workbench system used by the Bills Office the renumbering takes place only when all the amendments and sections have been voted.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 14, as amended, agreed to.
SECTION 15
Government amendment No. 2:
In page 10, lines 30 and 31, to delete “Act of 1990” and substitute “Act of 1990, and any other provision in the Companies Acts referred to in that Act,”.
Again, it is a technical amendment advised by the Attorney General’s office to align the text with the similar phrase used in section 14.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 15, as amended, agreed to.
NEW SECTION
Government amendment No. 3:
In page 11, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following:
“Application of section 2 of Act of 1990
16. Section 2 of the Act of 1990 applies subject to—
(a) the substitution in subsection (7) (inserted by section 2 of the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013) for “fell to be treated as a small company by virtue of section 8 or 9 of the Companies (Amendment) Act 1986” of the following: “fell to be treated as a small society by virtue of subsection (7A)”,and
(b) the insertion after subsection (7) of the following subsection:
“(7A) For the purposes of this section—
(a) a society falls to be treated as a small society in respect of the latest financial year of the society if, in respect of that year, the society meets the qualifying conditions set down in section 8(2) of the Companies (Amendment) Act 1986,
(b) the terms “balance sheet total” and “amount of turnover”, as set down in the said qualifying conditions, have the meanings assigned to them in section 8(4) and 8(5), respectively, of the Companies (Amendment) Act 1986, and
(c) the same method of calculation specified in paragraph 42(4) of the Schedule to the Companies (Amendment) Act 1986 shall be applied to determine the average number of persons employed by a small society.”.”.
Amendment agreed to.
Sections 16 to 23, inclusive, agreed to.
NEW SECTION
Acceptance of amendment No. 24 involves the deletion of section 24.
Government amendment No. 4:
In page 14, before line 1, to insert the following:
“Offences
24. (1) In this section, “Act” means the Act of 1990 as applied by this Act.
(2) (a) An examiner who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with subsection (6) of section 11 of the Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a class A fine.
(b) A person who fails to comply with section 12 of the Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a class A fine.
(c) A person who acts as an examiner of a registered society while disqualified under section 28 of the Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—
(i) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both, and
(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to both.
(d) Where a person fails to comply with section 30 of the Act, that person and, where that person is a registered society, the registered society and any officer of it who is in default, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a class A fine.
(3) The Court in which a conviction for an offence under this section is recorded or affirmed may order that the person convicted shall remedy the breach of this section in respect of which that person was convicted.
(4) Summary proceedings for an offence under this section may be brought and prosecuted by the registrar of friendly societies.”.
The amendment does not change the substantive meaning of the section as currently drafted but is made on the advice of the Attorney General to improve the clarity of the section. The new section 24 replaces the existing section 24.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 24 deleted.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported with amendments.
When is it proposed to take the next Stage?
Next Tuesday, 13 May 2014.
Report Stage ordered for Tuesday, 13 May 2014.