Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 January 2021
9. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to issues with the new online CRO system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3315/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Registrar of Companies is a statutory role and the Registrar has administrative independence in the exercise of this function.
A major upgrade of the CRO IT system went live with effect from 16th December 2020. This was a significant modernisation project which greatly increases the range of documents that can be filed electronically, with resulting efficiency gains for both business and the CRO. The new CRO cloud-based IT platform is designed to provide improved and faster user experience for presenters and a fully paperless interaction with the CRO for certain transactions, including the most common ones carried out by companies such as the filing of annual returns and the changing of directors and their details. The introduction of a fully paperless system for these transactions provides certainty of delivery for companies. In addition, the new system allowed for the go live of the new one-stage filing deadline of 56 days from a company's annual return date, over-hauling the previous two stage annual returns filing process.
I am informed that issues have been identified since go-live, the majority of which are a relatively minor nature and generally not impeding the filing of documents. I am assured that such issues are being addressed on a prioritised basis, with the most significant having already been dealt with and the remaining issues are being addressed over the coming weeks.
The CRO helpline is available for those experiencing difficulty and can be contacted on (01) 804 5200; Lo call 1890 220 226 or at electronic.filing@enterprise.gov.ie.
