The corporate enforcer said it needed to hire new legal advisors to deal with "high stakes" cases taken against them by "deep-pocketed" companies and individuals who were challenging them.
In a pre-budget submission, the new Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) also said significant investment in IT would be needed as it tried to keep up to speed with developments in artificial intelligence.
The CEA asked for an extra €926,000 in funding so that it could hire five new staff for their legal department, and upgraded posts for three more.
"Timely and expert legal advice is required in circumstances where there are high stakes - the authority is routinely challenged by well-resourced and deep-pocketed complaints and/or litigants and/or company directors," it said.
The CEA said High Court inspectorships were a particular strain on resources and detailed how they expected to "imminently" receive a "high-profile final report" in one such case.
It warned however of the challenges of finding suitably qualified staff in a time of full employment and when demand for lawyers was highly competitive.
"Recent recruitment campaigns have seen either no suitable candidate identified or candidates declining an offer of employment to pursue other opportunities (including in other state bodies offering higher salaries)," it stated.
The CEA also asked for new staff to help it deal with a wave of insolvencies that could be expected as the removal of government supports provided during the Covid-19 pandemic began to hit.
The pre-budget submission said as well that Ireland needed to continue to build its reputation as a "safe place to do business" and that its enforcement regime needed to be fully resourced.
It said this was especially needed at a time when the country was bidding to become the host for the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, a key European institution.
"The CEA is operating in a challenging environment where many of the subjects of its investigations and their advisors are extremely well resourced," it said.
A hike of €1.053m was sought for the authority's computer systems and networks, which they said required further and continuous investment.
"The current configuration of our content management system is obsolete, not fit for purpose, and presents significant risk," it said.
It said an upgrade of their Digital Forensics E-discovery system would also need to be upgraded so that they could keep up to speed "with the targets of their investigations".
It detailed the "sophisticated channels" that were being used by companies breaking the law and the "high degree of proof" that was needed to successfully prosecute such cases.
Other areas in which they sought increased funding were for communications, training and travel costs from having an increased headcount, overtime and subsistence for seconded garda staff, as well as energy costs, security, and offsite data storage.
Asked about the records, a spokeswoman for the CEA said: "The CEA is pleased to note that, consistent with ongoing Ministerial and Governmental support, it will receive a significant funding increase in 2024".
"That increase in funding will support ongoing capability enhancements that will serve to further the CEA’s statutory remit of encouraging compliance, and enforcing non-compliance, with company law," the spokeswoman added.
Reporting by Ken Foxe
