Ireland: time for an Irish corporate governance code?

The Irish Stock Exchange has responded to the publication last week of Grant Thornton's 2010 Corporate Governance Review. In a press release - available here (pdf) - the Exchange's Head of Market Supervision (Mike Duignan) is quoted as follows:

The Report deals with one aspect of corporate governance, namely the [UK] Code. Good corporate governance is, of course, wider than that and requires companies to give appropriate regard to other aspects of corporate governance such as company law, strategy and ethics. In the coming weeks the ISE will be considering the findings and recommendations in the Report and how these can best be implemented in the Irish market. The ISE will then engage in a market-wide consultation in relation to the recommendations of the Report and this consultation will also consider amendments to the Code currently being proposed by the Financial Reporting Council in the UK. In addition, we intend to use the consultation process to address some broader governance issues, such as whether there should be a stand-alone Irish corporate governance code".

Note: companies with their ordinary shares listed on the main market of the Irish Stock Exchange are required under the Exchange's Listing Rules (chapter 6) to state whether they have complied with the UK Combined Code on Corporate Governance and, if not, to explain why.

Update: its been pointed out to me that the ISE's press release is a little ambiguous about the Report to which it is referring. It seems likely that it was published not in response to the Grant Thornton report but to a separate report commissioned by the ISE and the Irish Association of Investment Managers - available here (pdf) - exploring listed companies' compliance with the Code.