Company Law

Legislation introducing an inward investment screening mechanism in Ireland for the first time has come into effect. The Screening of Third Country Transactions Act 2023 will come into force in full from 6 January 2025, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment confirmed yesterday.

Company law reforms which beef up enforcement powers and allow for virtual AGMs have come into effect. The majority of the Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Act 2024 has been commenced, while 26 provisions which require updates to the Companies Registration

New requirements are to be introduced to the process of registering limited partnerships and business names. The Miscellaneous Provisions (Registration of Limited Partnerships and Business Names) Bill will repeal and replace the existing Limited Partnerships Act 1907 and the Registration of Business

High Court inspectors have found no breaches of company law in their investigation into the business and governance of Independent News & Media (INM). The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) has published the report of Seán Gillane SC and Richard Fleck CBE, who were appointed as inspect

A former chairman of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) has pleaded guilty to company law offences following an investigation by the Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA). Dr Andrew Jordan, former chairman and secretary of the now-defunct NAGP, appeared in the Criminal Courts o

Pandemic-era rules allowing companies to hold AGMs on a hybrid or fully virtual basis are to be made permanent. The Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Bill 2024, published yesterday, will also make a number of reforms to the State's company law regulators.

New EU rules on corporate sustainability reporting have come into effect in Ireland. The European Union (Corporate Sustainability Reporting) Regulations 2024 require that all large companies and all listed companies (except listed micro-enterprises) report sustainability information in accordance w

New protections for employees in a collective redundancy situation following their employer's insolvency have come into effect today. The Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Act 2024, which also provides for the establishment of a new statutory

More companies will benefit from abridged reporting requirements and an audit exemption under updated rules. The European Union (Adjustments of Size Criteria for Certain Companies and Groups) Regulations 2024 increases the balance sheet and turnover thresholds for ‘micro’, ‘small&r

The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) secured over 100 court orders and referred a dozen people for prosecution in its first 18 months as Ireland's company law enforcement agency. The CEA yesterday published its first-ever annual report, covering the period from its formal establishment on on 7

Ireland should follow the UK in introducing tax advantages for employee-owned companies, a business group has said. The Irish ProShare Association (IPSA) made the call after digital marketing agency Wolfgang Digital became the first Irish-owned company to become employee-owned using an employee owne

William Fry lawyers Fergus Doorly, Deirdre O'Donovan and Alexandra Drummy examine a recent High Court case where two men were held personally liable for a limited company's debts. In De Lacy v Hevey [2024] IEHC 80, the High Court found that two men involved with the operation of Arden Forestry Manag

Plans to update company law and grant new enforcement powers to statutory authorities have been set out by the government. Ministers have published the general scheme of the Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Bill 2024, which will make a series of amendments to t

Temporary legislation allowing companies to hold their AGMs remotely has been extended for a further year. The interim period of the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Covid-19) Act 2020 related to the holding of virtual meetings, including AGMs, has now been extended to 31 December 2024.

The Court of Appeal determined that Lodge Gaven Limited should be restored to the Register of Companies, but varied the order of the High Court to award Circuit Court costs instead of High Court costs. Delivering judgment for the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Donald Binchy observed that “where a