The publication of the Companies Consolidation and Reform Bill is now unlikely to occur before late 2011. The reasons for the delay include the increased workload of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel which in recent times has had to prepare considerable legislation in the area of company law relating to the financial crisis and implementing EU Directives.

A draft outline of the Bill was published by the Company Law Review Group in 2007. The Bill will consolidate the existing Companies Acts into one single Act. It will also make sweeping changes to Irish company law. These changes include the creation of new classes of company, replacing memoranda and articles of association in private companies limited by shares (by far, the most common type of company) with a single document called a “Constitution” and permitting private companies to have just one director.