1997 COMPANIES REPORT PUBLISHED

The Companies Report, 1997, was published today (Tuesday, 22nd September, 1998) by Mr. Noel Treacy, T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce.

Amongst the highlights of the 1997 Report are;

• over 19,000 New Companies were incorporated in 1997, representing an 18% increase over the 1996 figure of 16,112.
• the number of Public Limited Companies on the Register increased by 41%.
• the total number of Liquidations dropped by 10%.
• Fines imposed by the Courts on Directors of Companies which failed to file returns increased by nearly 600%.
• a revised Fee Structure came into effect, putting the CRO on a self financing basis.

In commenting on the Report, Minister Treacy referred to the unprecedented level of activity in the area of company Investigations. "Recent events have indicated a need to investigate possible breaches of company law and other legislation in a variety of firms. The Government will continue to be pro-active in this area and this underlines our determination to pursue potential wrongdoing".

In addition, Minister Treacy expressed concern at the failure of a significant number of companies to meet their basic statutory obligations in filing returns. The Minister said "I am confident that the significant enhancement of resources allocated to the Companies Registration Office in the last year will go a long way to weeding out and prosecuting non-compliant companies within a short period".

Copies of the Report are available from the Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.