Legislation may pave way for new powers for company law enforcer 

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said the new authority, a recent €1m increase to €6m in the budget for the ODCE, as well as more staff will strengthen the policing of company law.  

A new structure and recent additional funding will help the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement to "crack down" on major breaches of Irish company law, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said. 

The comments come as the Government readies to publish a bill to set up a new Corporate Enforcement Authority which along with better funding aims to boost the ability of the ODCE to take on "larger scale and more complex breaches of company law".  

Following a number of reports, the Government will consider bolstering the Corporate Enforcement Authority although the legislation won't provide the ODCE with new powers.     

Mr Varadkar said the new authority, a recent €1m increase to €6m in the budget for the ODCE, as well as more staff will strengthen the policing of company law.  

The legislation proposes the ODCE will be an independent organisation overseen by the new Corporate Enforcement Authority.  

"The new CEA will tackle allegations of company law breaches and investigate alleged criminal activity in the areas of fraudulent trading and dishonest dealings before a company becomes insolvent among other breaches of company law," Mr Varadkar said. 

“We have seen how intricate and complex some of these breaches can be and how hard it is to secure prosecutions. As a statutorily independent agency, the CEA will have more autonomy to recruit the specialist staff it needs. 

"My department will continue to work with the new CEA to ensure it has the appropriate legislative tools to undertake corporate law enforcement," he said.