Ireland · Investigations, restriction and disqualification
Investigations, production of books and documents, compliance orders and disclosure orders
the Companies Act 2014 · sections 747, 751, 753 to 755, 768, 776, 785, 797, 813, 817 and 886
A section 747 application needs 14 days' written notice before it is heard
An investigation begins with notice, and the notice period is short. A person who intends making an application under section 747 must give not less than 14 days' written notice of that intention to the Authority, and to the other persons the subsection names (section 747(5)). A company that learns of the application only when it is served has already lost the chance to be heard on the notice.
A compliance order is not a first step, it is a second one. Section 797 applies where a company or an officer has failed to comply with a provision of the Act and has then failed to remedy the default (section 797(1)). The company that answers the first letter and fixes the defect never reaches the section, which is why the correspondence file matters more than the eventual court file.
Sections 797 and 813 to 817 let the Authority seek compliance and disclosure orders against companies and officers
Sections 747, 751 and 753 to 755 govern the appointment of inspectors, the conduct of an investigation and the production of books and documents. Sections 768, 776 and 785 govern the further powers, including restrictions that may be placed on shares. Sections 813 and 817 carry related enforcement provisions and section 886 carries an evidential provision that applies across the Act.
Sections 797 and the sections around it carry compliance orders and disclosure orders. These are directed at the company and at named officers, so the exposure is personal as well as corporate. A defect that has been remedied is still a defect, but it is one that has been answered, and the record of remedying it is the company's own responsibility to keep.
The system generates your ComplianceSME company passport and then walks you through the working files
Working files 115 and 116 of the IE-COMPANY agent toolkit cover this situation. Working file 115 works through any investigation, the production of books and documents, the persons who received notice and on what date, and any restriction placed on shares. Working file 116 works through compliance orders, disclosure orders and the evidential provisions, asking what default was alleged, what was done to remedy it and what record exists of that remedy.
- Working file 115 · Investigations: production of books and documents and restrictions on shares
- Working file 116 · Compliance orders, disclosure orders and evidential matters
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