Mr. John Newham:

I thank the Deputy for that feedback. He has made us blush. The system improvements have worked well. I can advise that, as late as last week with the extended filing date, no problems were reported and people where in a waiting queue for only a few minutes. Thankfully, that is working well.

In terms of the audit exemption for micro-companies, the Deputy is right. We are aware companies, particularly micro-companies, may have missed a filing deadline perhaps through no fault of their own, and I have some sympathy for them. One reason for the recent extension of the filing date was to recognise staff in some small accountancy firms were suffering from ill health and were not able to physically complete the work involved to make their client’s filings. However, it is the company that pays the price in such circumstances. The legislation is not nuanced to deal with exceptional circumstances but the balance must be kept and we spoke of the bogus companies earlier.

If they missed their filing deadlines, we would like to see details of those audits because those would be micro companies as well. It is something we are bearing in mind as part of the ongoing review of company law.

I will refer to my colleague with regard to searches and fees as I do not have that information to hand. He might not have it to hand either so we can refer back to the committee.

I will refer back to the committee regarding the casual trading. I will have to search my mind a little. The Deputy will be aware that on the consumer side of my division we are dealing with the competition Bill and the consumer Bill as well as other legislation. They had to be prioritised ahead of the others. I will respond more formally to the Deputy on that. Deputy O'Reilly asked earlier why the co-operatives legislation is taking so long. I did not want to use this, but we have had three legislative measures in about 18 months in the company law area as a result of Covid, the small company administrative rescue process, SCARP, and whatnot. That tends to displace resources at any moment in time.

I will hand over to Mr. McFadden who might be able to comment on the searches and fees.