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Irish Company Law 2013 - An update

05 June 2013 By Ann Donnelly


Irish Company Law

The ODCE (Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement) published their 2012 annual report on 29th May 2013.

The ‘Office’ claims the following achievements during 2012 in its report:

  • assisting stakeholders comply with their obligations
  • dissuading irresponsible and non-compliant behaviour

The report explains how this was achieved by the following means:

  • publication of new guidance information for stakeholders via ten new publications issued during the year
  • securing rectification of € 55m in illegal directors loans issues
  • successfully securing compliance, in over 200 cases through formal measures
  • securing disqualification of 19 individuals though High Court action
  • restricting 227 directors through the liquidation process
  • securing 16 criminal convictions in district court resulting in fines, disqualification and imprisonment

Further progress is  being made with cases against a number of individuals connected with Anglo Irish Bank PLC with offences made under s60 companies act 1963 & s197 Companies Act 1990.

It is interesting to note that some of the above issues are instigated either by public complaints or reports by auditors as indictable offences.

  • A total of 337 complaints were received in 2012 compared to 304 in 2011.
  • The highest of these relate to allegations of reckless/fraudulent/trading while insolvent.
  • Auditors Indictable offence reports made during 2012 numbered 157 versus 169 in 2011.
  • The overwhelming majority of these reports were related to directors loans issues so it is clear that care has to be taken in this area.

The Companies Consolidation Bill 2012 was presented to the Dail on 13/12/2012 and contains provisions to consolidate existing company law and also make changes to streamline the process of establishing a company in Ireland.

Our blog dated February 13th 2013 outlines some key proposals. Click here to read it now.

At present the Bill is at the second stage in the Dail and referred to a select committee and has many more stages to go through including committee stages and the Senate before it can be passed into law. It is expected to become law later this year and we will keep you updated on its progress.

Do you have any concerns about how
Irish Company Law relates to your business?

We can help.

Click here to email or ring +353 (0)23 8835287.

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