Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 16 Feb 1999

Vol. 500 No. 4

Written Answers. - Companies Registration Office.

Pat Rabbitte

Question:

74 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her views on the performance of the Companies Registration Office in enforcing company registration requirements in view of the reports that only one-third of companies comply with registration requirements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4151/99]

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Mr. Treacy)

In 1997, the latest year for which statistics are available, only 35 per cent of some 165,000 companies on the Companies Register filed an annual return during the year for which it was required. However, following additional staffing and IT investment over the past two years, I am glad to report that the Companies Registration Office is now beginning to make serious inroads into the compliance problem.

The CRO commenced an extensive strike-off programme in September 1998 resulting in companies in default of their obligations to file their annual returns for two or more years being selected at random and formally notified of their default.

Some 500 companies are now being advised by the CRO each working day that a failure on their part to comply with their statutory obligations within a short period will result in their being struck off the Companies Register and dissolved. This process will continue until mid-1999 when it is estimated that all such companies will have been processed. As at 5 February last, 34,000 companies have been issued with strike-off notices, and more significantly, this has resulted in 8,900 companies being struck-off the register.

It is encouraging that since the strike-off regime commenced, a substantial improvement in the lodgment of annual returns has been experienced. In the October to January period, the number of companies which have filed returns is 52 per cent higher than the same period last year. While the figures will have to continue to improve if we are to attain a satisfactory level, I am satisfied that these trends give grounds for optimism that compliance rates by companies with their statutory obligations will show a significant improvement by the end of this year.

The Registrar also plans an increase in the number of prosecutions of both companies and their officers, and I am informed that a sizeable number of cases will be prosecuted in late April-May 1999.

The Working Group on Company Law Compliance and Enforcement which has reported recently includes a number of helpful recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the compliance and enforcement tasks of the Registrar. This report will be submitted to Government shortly, and I expect that it will be published in a matter of weeks. A number of its recommendations will require legislative change in due course.

In short, I am satisfied that the benefits of additional investment in the Companies Registration Office are now becoming evident and that the Registrar and his staff are well on the way to reporting by the end of this year a substantial improvement in the rate of compliance by companies with their annual return obligations.