Companies Act, 1963

Register of directors and secretaries.

195.—(1) Every company shall keep at its registered office a register of its directors and secretaries.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), the said register shall contain the following particulars relating to each director—

(a) his present Christian name and surname and any former Christian name and surname; and

(b) his usual residential address; and

(c) his nationality, if not Irish; and

(d) his business occupation, if any; and

(e) particulars of any other directorships of bodies corporate incorporated in the State held by him.

(3) It shall not be necessary for the said register to contain particulars of directorships held by a director in bodies corporate of which the company is the wholly-owned subsidiary or which are the wholly-owned subsidiaries either of the company or of another body corporate of which the company is the wholly-owned subsidiary and for the purposes of this subsection a body corporate shall be deemed to be the wholly-owned subsidiary of another if it has no members except that other and that other's wholly-owned subsidiaries and its or their nominees.

(4) Subject to subsection (5), the said register shall contain the following particulars relating to the secretary or, where there are joint secretaries, in relation to each of them—

(a) in the case of an individual, his present Christian name and surname, any former Christian name and surname and his usual residential address; and

(b) in the case of a body corporate, the corporate name and registered office.

(5) Where all the partners in a firm are joint secretaries, the name and principal office of the firm may be stated instead of the said particulars.

(6) The company shall, within the periods respectively mentioned in subsection (7), send to the registrar of companies a return in the prescribed form containing the particulars specified in the said register and a notification in the prescribed form of any change among its directors or in its secretary, or in any of the particulars contained in the register specifying the date of the change.

(7) Subject to subsection (8), the periods referred to in subsection (6) are the following:—

(a) the period within which the said return is to be sent shall be a period of 14 days from the appointment of the first directors of the company; and

(b) the period within which the said notification of a change is to be sent shall be 14 days from the happening thereof.

(8) In the case of a return containing particulars relating to any person who is the company's secretary on the operative date, the period shall be 14 days from the operative date.

(9) The register to be kept under this section shall, during business hours (subject to such reasonable restrictions as the company may by its articles or in general meeting impose, so that not less than 2 hours in each day be allowed for inspection) be open to the inspection of any member of the company without charge, and of any other person, on payment of one shilling or such less sum as the company may prescribe, for each inspection.

(10) If any inspection required under this section is refused or if default is made in complying with subsections (1), (2), (4) or (6), the company and every officer of the company who is in default shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £100.

(11) In the case of any such refusal, the court may by order compel an immediate inspection of the register.

(12) For the purposes of this section—

(a) a person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of a company are accustomed to act shall be deemed to be a director and officer of the company;

(b) “Christian name” includes a forename;

(c) in the case of a person usually known by a title different from his surname, the expression “surname” means that title;

(d) references to a former Christian name or surname do not include—

(i) in the case of a person usually known by a title different from his surname, the name by which he was known previous to the adoption of or succession to the title; or

(ii) in the case of any person, a former Christian name or surname where that name or surname was changed or disused before the person bearing the name attained the age of 18 years or has been changed or disused for a period of not less than 20 years; or

(iii) in the case of a married woman, the name or surname by which she was known previous to the marriage.