Select Committee on Enterprise and Economic Strategy debate -
Wednesday, 9 Apr 1997

SECTION 68.

Mr. Rabbitte

I move amendment No. 98:

In page 54, subsection (1), lines 7 and 8, to delete "as an officer of the credit union" and substitute "in that capacity".

Following the publication of the Bill, various interests made the point to me that an employee of the credit union was sometimes delegated to perform the tasks of credit officer and credit control officer. The current text of section 68(1) would preclude such an employee from being paid. The proposed amendment to this subsection is designed to deal with this inconsistency by indicating that remuneration shall not be paid in respect of any of the listed positions for any service performed by that person in that capacity. This revised drafting does not preclude an employee being paid as an employee as distinct from his appointment to any of the main positions.

Mr. E. O'Keeffe

Why was it necessary to legislate for this?

Mr. Rabbitte

Subsection 68(1) precludes an employee from being paid. It is fair to provide for some remuneration.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr. Rabbitte

I move amendment No. 99:

In page 54, subsection (2)(b), line 14, to delete "before they are incurred".

Subsection 68(2)(b) requires the approval of the board of directors for the payment or reimbursement of expenses before they are incurred. It has been represented to me that this is impractical. In many cases directors perform tasks without any knowledge of what the associated costs may be. Consequently, it has been decided to remove reference to the approval of expenses before they are incurred.

Eamon Ó Cuív

As someone who worked for a voluntary committee for years I am delighted the Minister has taken this decision. It was a bugbear.

Amendment agreed to.

Section 68, as amended, agreed to.

Section 69 agreed to.