The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment is currently consulting on proposed changes to the Companies Act 2014.
The Companies Act 2014 is a piece of Irish legislation that consolidated previous company law, replacing the Companies Act 1963. Enacted in 2014 and fully in force by 2015, it introduced significant reforms to make it easier to run a company in Ireland and also included provisions for corporate insolvency law. The Act introduced two new company models, has 1,584 sections, and is the largest piece of legislation in the state’s history.
The Department is seeking the views of stakeholders and interested parties on proposed changes to the 2014 Act in relation to access to the usual residential addresses of company Directors and Secretaries.
Niamh Smyth (Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation) said the proposed changes “seek to provide an appropriate balance between access to information and individual privacy considerations and follow consideration of the recommendations of a recent report from the Company Law Review Group”.
The amendment is to provide for a company’s relevant officer to provide a ‘contact address’, located in the State, in addition to their ‘usual residential address’ already supplied. The addresses are supplied to enable access by the public and to allow documents to be effectively served to the relevant officer.
The ‘contact address’ will be the only address published on the company’s registers on the Register of Companies maintained by the CRO. The company and CRO will continue to retain a record of the ‘usual residential address’.
A court, however, may order the disclosure of the ‘usual residential address’ by the company or by the CRO to third parties, where the ‘contact address’ is not effective for service for the purpose of access to justice.
The Department also says the change will be reflected in the drafting of two other bills: the Co-operative Societies Bill and the Registration of Limited Partnership and Business Names Bill.
The consultation is divided into three parts and responses can address any or all elements:
- Section A – the Companies Act 2014
- Section B – the Co-operative Societies Bill
- Section C – the Registration of Limited Partnerships and Business Names Bill
The consultation remains open until 5pm on Friday 19 December 2025.
See link for access to consultation: https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/consultations/public-consultation-on-proposed-changes-to-the-companies-act-2014-and-related-legislation.html
NB – This is a guide for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you have an issue requiring legal advice, please contact any of the team at Nolan Farrell & Goff LLP, whose numbers can be found on our website www.nfg.ie, or email info@nfg.ie.
