Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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237. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if the Companies Registration Office has a strict zero tolerance policy with regard to companies that are late by more than nine months with their statutory returns and that they immediately enter the integrated enforcement environment and will be listed for strike off. [20194/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Companies Registration Office (CRO) takes a number of measures which are designed to help companies and their directors to comply with their statutory obligations to file annual returns.  Letters are issued to companies in advance of their annual return date to notify them that their annual return date is imminent. If a company fails to file on time, it will receive a further letter from the CRO warning that they have missed their deadline to file annual returns and advising them to file as soon as possible. If a company still does not file it will receive an enforcement warning letter indicating that in the absence of filing of annual returns within 10 weeks of the letter, enforcement action will be commenced against the company. The Registrar is empowered under the Companies Act 2014 to prosecute or to strike off the companies for non-compliance. If the company is selected for strike off, a statutory strike-off notice is issued. This will indicate that in the absence of filing of the outstanding returns, a notice of impending strike off will be inserted in the CRO Gazette within 28 days.  28 days after that notice has appeared in the CRO Gazette, the company will be struck off the register, unless all outstanding returns have been filed. If a company is selected for strike off, the CRO is required by legislation to send only one warning notice.  The CRO is not required to issue notification and reminder letters and this course of action is undertaken to help companies to comply with their statutory obligations. Companies who have been struck off the Register are over 1 year late in the filing of their annual returns.