Ireland's New Corporate Enforcement Authority

The Corporate Enforcement Authority ("CEA") has now been established as an independent statutory agency to replace, and perform the functions previously performed by, the Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement ("ODCE").

The Ministerial Orders providing for the commencement of the Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Act 2021 and the establishment of the CEA were signed by the Tánaiste, and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, on 5 and 6 July 2022, respectively.

The establishment of the CEA as an independent agency is part of the Irish Government's 'White Collar Crime package' of measures to enhance Ireland's ability to combat corporate, economic and regulatory crime, which was published in November 2017. It also follows on from the Government's Implementation Plan on the recommendations in the Report of the Review Group on Anti-Fraud and Anti-Corruption from December 2020 (the Hamilton Report)¹.