Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 8 Feb 1994

Vol. 438 No. 4

Written Answers. - Appointment of Examiners to Companies.

Ivor Callely

Question:

124 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the number of companies that requested the appointment of examiners under the Companies Act, 1990, for each of the years from 1991 to 1993; the percentage of companies that went into receivership after examinership; if he has received submissions on the examinership aspect of the Companies Act; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. Quinn)

The Deputy will be aware that the appointment of examiners under the terms of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1990, and the conduct of examinerships are matters under the aegis of the courts. There are requirements in the Act relating to the making of notifications to the registrar of companies at various points in the proceedings. Such notifications are made available in the normal course for public inspection in the Companies Office.

The information sought by the Deputy, and further data, is largely available from the statutory companies reports which are in the Dáil Library. For the convenience of the Deputy, a summary of the data requested is set out as follows. I should stress that care should be taken in any interpretation of such statistics as indicating success or otherwise in particular cases.

Examinership statistics based on Documents Filed with the Companies Registration Office.

	1991	1992	1993
Notice of:
Application for appointment of examiner	85	49	3
Court Order appointing examiner	19	72	11
Subsequent appointment of Receiver	1	7	4

These statistics relate to the date of registration of the relevant documents in the Companies Office and not to the date of application or to the date of appointment. For example, a significant number of the "notices of application" registered in 1991 relate to applications actually made to the High Court in 1990.

I can confirm that I have received a number of submissions from interested parties identifying certain aspects of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1990, which they consider needs to be amended. These suggestions are being examined and if considered necessary, I will bring forward appropriate amending legislation.