What does the Irish business register offer?

The Register of Companies records certain documents which are kept and maintained by the Companies Registration Office pursuant to filing obligations on companies arising under and by virtue of the Companies Acts, 1963-2012. The register provides basic company information, such as:

The address,
Date of incorporation
Date of last annual return filed

All documents filed by companies under the Companies’ Acts are publicly accessible. Company profiles may be purchased. This provides an extract of the information on the register, including company officers, charges and a list of the documents filed.

Is access to the Irish register of companies free of charge?

Yes, access to basic company information is free of charge. However, a fee is charged for the retrieval of any other information.

How to search the Irish register of companies and business names?

Searches can be conducted by company/business number or name. There are four possible name searches:

'Contains all these words' searches for names containing these words(recommended)
'Starts with this phrase' searches for names beginning with this phrase
'Contains this phrase' searches for names containing this phrase.
The alphasort is a string created by removing common words such as 'Ireland', 'Limited', 'The', 'And', etc. and by stripping out spaces, commas, hyphens, etc. from the company name. To perform an alphasort search you should do the same.

Name searches may be narrowed by including address details.

To which extent can the documents in the register be relied upon?

The Companies Registration Office (CRO) is the central repository of public statutory information on companies in Ireland. The Companies Act 2014 and related legislation are the statutory basis on which companies are required to provide information to the CRO for registration and publication.

The information contained on the companies register is supplied to the CRO by third parties, pursuant to statutory obligation, including the obligation not to knowingly or recklessly supply false information to the CRO. The CRO cannot and does not vouch for the accuracy of the information which has been supplied to it by third parties.

In relation to the submission of certain documents and particulars there is a statutory requirement that the person making the submission must sign a statutory declaration that he or she believes that the required particulars and documents have been properly submitted. In accordance with the Statutory Declarations Act 1938 as amended, any person who knowingly makes a false or misleading statutory declaration is liable to prosecution and, on conviction, to a fine or imprisonment, or both.

Additionally, in accordance with section 876 of the Companies Act 2014, it is a criminal offence to knowingly or recklessly notify false information to the CRO on statutory forms.

History of the Irish register of companies

Electronic data on the register is complete in relation to all companies in normal status.

Related Links

European Business Register

Last update: 10/09/2019

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