Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2015
301. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the current status of the report of the Moriarty tribunal; the actions his Department is taking further to the findings of this report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24502/15]
View answer302. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the actions his Department has taken, following the publication of the report of the Moriarty tribunal, to prevent the malpractices outlined from occurring again; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24503/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 301 and 302 together.
The Second (and final) Report of the Moriarty Tribunal was published in March 2011.
The Moriarty Tribunal made a number of recommendations which relate to the responsibilities of a number of Departments.
With regard to matters that fall under my Department's responsibility, the Moriarty Tribunal made two recommendations for changes to company law, as follows:
-That a provision similar to section 172 of the UK Companies Act, 2006 be adopted, together with the adoption of additional implementation or enforcement measures.
-That consideration be given by the Oireachtas, and/or by the Company Law Review Group, to enacting provisions similar to those contained in Part 14 of the UK Companies Act, 2006, governing the control of political donations and expenditure.
The Government considered that provisions contained in Part 5 of the Companies Act, 2014 meet the objectives of the first recommendation. Part 5 introduces, for the first time in codified form, the various common law and statutory duties of company officers. The Companies Act, 2014 was signed into law by President Higgins on 23 December 2014 and it commenced on 1 June 2015.
With regard to the second recommendation above, provisions restricting corporate donations are contained in the Electoral Amendment (Political Funding) Act 2012, which comes within the remit of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.
