Ireland · Members, registers, meetings and resolutions
Company registers, minute books, the register of members and rights of inspection
the Companies Act 2014 · sections 127, 169, 173, 212 to 214, 216 and 218
Company registers must be kept in the State and opened to inspection within 10 days of a request
Registers fail on location and on timing. A register or document to which section 216 applies must be kept at the registered office, at the principal place of business in the State, or at another place in the State, and where a third party keeps it for the company that place must also be within the State (section 216(3) and (4)). During business hours it must be open to inspection in the manner subsections (8) to (10) set out, except when the members' register is closed under section 174 (section 216(7)).
The response times are short. A company has 10 days after receiving a request under section 216(11) or (12), and after payment of the relevant fee, to send the copy or the part requested (section 216(13)). Entries in the register of members must be made within 28 days after the agreement to become a member is concluded, or after entry as a subscriber, and within 28 days after a person ceases to be a member (section 169(3) and (4)).
Section 216 sets where registers are kept and section 169 sets the 28-day deadline for member entries
Section 169 sets the contents of the register of members and the periods in which entries must be made. Section 173 governs rectification, and where a rectification also affects a particular delivered to the Registrar, the company must give notice of the rectification in the prescribed form within 21 days after it is made (section 173(6)). Sections 216 and 218 govern where registers and documents are kept, who may inspect them and on what terms copies must be provided.
Sections 212 to 214 hold the oppression remedy. A member may apply where the affairs of the company are being conducted, or the powers of the directors are being exercised, in a manner oppressive to that member or in disregard of that member's interests. Where the court makes an order amending or giving leave to amend the constitution, a certified copy must be delivered to the Registrar within 21 days after the making of the order (section 212(6)). Section 127 governs the minute books of general meetings.
The system generates your ComplianceSME company passport and then walks you through the working files
Working files 18 and 25 of the IE-COMPANY agent toolkit cover this situation. Working file 18 works through every register and minute book the company keeps, where each is held, who may inspect it, how requests for copies are handled and within what period. Working file 25 works through the register of members in detail, the 28-day entry periods, any rectification and the filings that follow, and the oppression remedy in sections 212 to 214.
- Working file 18 · Company registers, minute books and rights of inspection
- Working file 25 · The register of members, its rectification and the remedy in case of oppression
Free, with a free account
The working files above open from your ComplianceSME account at no charge, and so does the rest of the Companies Act 2014 toolkit: 215 working files across the 75 situations a company registered in Ireland can be in. Working file 1 runs first and builds the company passport; after that you open each working file as its situation arises.
A working file runs in Claude. You ask the ComplianceSME connector for it in a dedicated premium seat on the Claude Team plan. It asks one question at a time, then returns the document the Companies Act 2014 names, citing the Act's section at every step. Nothing is downloaded and nothing is installed.
The report stays yours, ready for a bank, an insurer, a customer or an inspector. Your dashboard shows every working file and its state.
Open this working fileComplianceSME tracks the Companies Act 2014 and updates the toolkit on your account through the Compliance Complete account, so that you are never working from a superseded version. Compliance Complete