Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2015
871. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to a company entitled the International Diaspora Centre Trust being established in 2011 by the board of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company in 2011 without Government approval at the time, if he will confirm that Government approval was only sought in 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23216/15]
View answerIn December 2011, Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company informed the Department that it was establishing a new company to be known as The Irish International Diaspora Centre Trust. The Company was immediately informed of its statutory requirements as regards the establishment of subsidiaries.
The Company replied that, while the entity proposed was a new company, it was not a subsidiary as defined within the Harbours Acts and therefore the requirement for Ministerial consent did not exist.
Regardless of legal technicalities as regards the status of the Trust, my Department has been consistently clear that the Company should seek Ministerial consent and noted that the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies also requires Ministerial consent in respect of any intended action which would extend or change significantly the nature, scope or scale of the activities in which it engages. A Company proposal to utilise the AGM in 2012 as a mechanism to gain Ministerial consent was rejected by officials as being procedurally incorrect.
The Department required the Company to ensure that the Trust remained non trading and without share capital until such as time as the proper consents had been secured.
In July 2014, my predecessor wrote to the Company to highlight his concerns at the approach adopted by it with regard to meeting the corporate governance standards expected of State bodies. In November 2014, I met with, and subsequently wrote to, the Company and during these exchanges again raised the issue of Ministerial consent in respect of the diaspora project.
The Company has informed me that entity known as The Irish International Diaspora Centre Trust is being wound up.
