In a welcome development for Irish companies, the “interim period” under the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Covid-19) Act 2020 (the “Act”) has been extended until 9 June 2021. This law, which we analysed in a previous update, came into effect on 21 August 2020.  The temporary measures introduced were designed to ease some of the governance burdens on Irish companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, by, for example, facilitating virtual shareholder and creditor meetings and allowing counterpart documents to be executed under company seal. 

The interim period during which these relieving provisions applied had been due to expire on 31 December 2020. This period was extended by Government Order under section 4 of the Act, given the expectation that some level of COVID-19 restrictions will continue well into the year.  It’s important to note, however, that this extension did not apply to 2020 annual general meetings which, under the terms of the Act, must have been held by 31 December 2021.

Visit our COVID-19 Insights Centre which hosts a range of useful material on this topic or get in touch with your usual Matheson contact for further information.