Paul McAuliffe
Question:49. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has received the Company Law Reform Group report on the splitting of assets. [6806/22]
View answerThursday, 10 February 2022
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Written answers
The Company Law Review Group (CLRG) is a statutory advisory body charged with advising the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on matters pertaining to company law. Its membership is broad and representative of all stakeholders, including employee and employer representative groups, the Revenue Commissioners, insolvency and legal practitioners and regulators. Members have an expertise in company law and provide well-rounded analysis on the issues that come before them for consideration.
The Group submitted its report on the consequences of certain corporate liquidations and restructuring practices, including splitting of corporate operations from asset holding entities in group structures, on 21 December 2021.
The issues considered in the report are complex and required extensive discussion and analysis by the CLRG over the course of twelve meetings. The CLRG ultimately concluded that the incidence of abusive practices in corporate restructuring, while attracting significant attention, is in fact low. This conclusion is supported by the Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement which notes that its reviews of liquidations indicate that in over 90% of all liquidations, company directors had acted honestly and responsibly.
Notwithstanding this, the CLRG made eight recommendations for potential amendment to the Companies Act, intended to further enhance the regulatory framework. The Report is under active consideration by officials from my Department in the context of the Plan for Action on Collective Redundancies following Insolvency. The Report will be made publicly available on the CLRG's website once the Tánaiste and I have had an opportunity to consider their analysis and proposals.
As the Deputy may be aware, both myself and Minister English jointly looked at the legislative provisions that deal with redundancy and insolvency from both a company law and an employment law perspective, which come under their respective remits.
The Plan details short-term and medium-term measures that will further enhance the protection of employees, in a way that does not overly impede businesses and their operations. In preparing the Plan, both Minister English and I and Department officials consulted with trade unions and business representative bodies in identifying gaps or deficiencies in company and employment laws that could improve the position of employees who find themselves in a redundancy situation due to company insolvency. Government has already delivered on commitments contained in the Plan and amended the Companies Act to enhance the provision of information to employees as creditors. Government stands ready to progress further amendments to the Companies Act where it will result in real improvements.