The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) has said it secured the restriction of 98 company directors and the disqualification of a further 22 company directors last year.
The CEA, which is Ireland's company law enforcement agency, said it received over 270 complaints from members of the public in 2024.
It also received almost 200 statutory reports from auditors, examiners, and process advisors.
The CEA was established in July 2022 under the Companies Act 2014 and replaced the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).
In its annual report for 2024, the agency said it received and examined over 980 statutory reports from liquidators, in respect of insolvent companies and the behaviour of the directors of those companies.
As part of its work last year, the authority said it secured 52 court orders and took 145 witness statements.
CEA officers "effected seven arrests in the course of investigative or enforcement activity," while four investigation files were also submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The report also said the CEA secured a number of criminal convictions in respect of company law offences.
It includes the "furnishing of false information to the Registrar of Companies, failing to take all reasonable steps to secure a company’s compliance with its accounting obligations and acting as a company director while disqualified from doing so".
The CEA said criminal convictions were also secured in respect of the offences of deception and theft.
The CEA is a multi-disciplinary agency, including accounting staff, legal professionals, seconded members of An Garda Síochána and digital forensics specialists.
