Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

My question particularly related to recent court decisions in the Airspace versus Powertech case and the Panabridge case where essentially Ms Justice Laffoy, in her wisdom, decided perhaps that it is no longer appropriate for companies to seek actions, under sections 150 and 160 of the Companies Act, to have a company reinstated. The effect of that decision is that it falls entirely on the director of corporate enforcement to ensure that companies go through the liquidation process properly. Without doing that, hundreds of thousands of creditors will have no recourse to the law and will not be able to get their money back from companies that fold. It is obvious that the Director of Corporate Enforcement will require staff in the order of 400 rather than 41 to fulfil his obligations.

Will the Minister advise me on the number of companies involuntarily struck off the register last year? Given these recent court decisions, does the Minister envisage the Director of Corporate Enforcement taking on the role of pursuing companies? What is the Minister's view of the 80,000 or so cowboy directors whose companies have folded and who subsequently establish other companies without having properly liquidated their previous companies?

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