Executive summary

Proposed reforms to company law in Ireland are currently under consideration by the Department of Enterprise, Trade, Tourism and Employment. Public consultation on the proposed reforms closed on 19 December 2025.

If implemented, these reforms will enhance the security and privacy for directors and secretaries of Irish companies by replacing the public disclosure of their usual residential address with the provision of a designated contact address. This reform directly addresses growing concerns around the privacy and security of directors arising from the publication of their residential addresses and is particularly welcome for directors of multinational groups, which frequently serve on multiple boards.

Background

Under the Companies Act 2014, directors are required to provide their usual residential address to the Companies Registration Office (CRO) upon their appointment as a director of a company and to confirm this information on an annual basis. The CRO makes this information publicly available on the Register of Companies. An exemption is available for directors, allowing a director to withhold his or her usual residential address from publication by applying to the CRO. This application must be supported by a statement from a Garda Síochána (the Irish police) confirming that disclosure of the residential address would pose a risk to the director's personal safety or security. This exemption is narrow in scope, as it does not remove directors' information already published and will cease to apply if the director's residential address is disclosed in a later filing to the CRO.

Proposed reform

The proposed amendments to the Companies Act 2014 would revise the default position of directors and secretaries having to disclose their residential address, as follows.

• Directors and secretaries would be able to provide a contact address — rather than their residential address — for publication on the CRO register. This could be their residential address or another address in Ireland (e.g., the company's registered office).
• The contact address provided would be the only address made publicly available by the CRO.
• Directors would still be required to provide the CRO with their usual residential address, but this information would be withheld from public access. Only specified authorities would be permitted to request and obtain this information for law enforcement, regulatory compliance or judicial proceedings.
• A director who has previously obtained an exemption preventing publication of their residential address would still need to provide a residential address to the CRO under the new regime, but this would remain unpublished and accessible only to authorized bodies.

Implications

For directors, the proposed reforms are a welcome development in Irish company law and, if adopted, would significantly enhance the security and privacy of directors. However, the changes will not have retrospective effect, meaning any information already made public will not be removed or redacted. As a result, though these proposals offer important protection for future filings, they do not resolve the position of current directors whose personal information will remain publicly available. The reforms were proposed after recommendations by the Company Law Review Group.