Companies Act 2014

The Company Law Review Group devoted the majority of its efforts in its early years to advising the Minister on the preparation of what became the Companies Act 2014. This was achieved by devising a design for a consolidated Act in its First Report and in 2007, publishing the general scheme of a Companies Consolidation Bill. The Companies Bill was initiated in 2012 and enacted in 2014 as the Companies Act 2014. Subject to some minor exceptions, the 2014 Act came into effect on 1 June 2015.

Since its enactment, the 2014 Act has been amended a number of Acts, the principal ones being:

In addition, amendments have been made by Statutory Instruments made under the European Communities Act 1972, in order to give effect to EU measures.

Useful websites

For general information on the Companies Act 2014 and what changes are required for companies, the Companies Registration Office has extensive information available its website www.cro.ie .

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment’s website hosts a comprehensive list of secondary legislation published under the Companies Act 2014 and other related material such as tables of derivation and destination, quick guides and summaries. A searchable index is available at https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/Publications.

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement has published guides to the Companies Act for directors, shareholders, secretaries, auditors and creditors as well as other documents and consultation papers. These are available at https://cea.gov.ie/publications

The Law Reform Commission has undertaken an ongoing administrative consolidation of the Companies Act 2014 bringing together all amendments and changes to the Act to make the law more accessible for all users. Their most recent consolidation is effective as of 15 March 2021 and is available at https://revisedacts.lawreform.ie/eli/2014/act/38/front/revised/en/html