Irish Region

The Companies Registration Office (“CRO”) suspended involuntary strike-offs in 2020 to ease the burden and pressures the Covid-19 Pandemic placed on companies. However, in May 2022 it was announced that the CRO would recommence involuntary strike-offs with a view of clearing the large backlog of companies due to be struck off for failure to file annual returns and financial statements. 

In summary, the statutory process to involuntarily strike-off a company involves issuing a warning notice which outlines that if the outstanding annual return(s) and financial statements are not filed within 28 days, the name of company will be published in the CRO Gazette with a view to it being struck off 28 days after the publication.

However, since recommencement the CRO faced several issues regarding the involuntary strike-off process. Although warning notices were issued to companies in October 2023, at least 800 of those companies were involuntarily struck off in January 2024 notwithstanding the fact that the company names had been omitted from the CRO Gazette involuntary strike-off list published in November 2023. Failure for company names to appear in the CRO Gazette left companies unaware that strike-off was imminent. The CRO have since restored the status of the companies effected and have ceased the involuntary strike-off process, pending a full review.

We will keep you updated on any changes to the status of the CRO enforcement activity.