Three company directors who were involved in separate companies which collapsed with liabilities totalling some €3 million have been disqualified by the High Court for persistent or serial abuse of company law.
The businessmen - Martin Allen, Peter Banks and Thomas Donoghue - will have to pay significant legal fees to Director of Corporate Enforcement Paul Appleby, who brought the court actions against them.
Mr Appleby said that information in some of the cases came to him on foot of public complaints by employees and creditors.
For the first time since his office was established, the cases arose from the striking off of multiple companies from the companies register. "What was different about today's cases was that evidence of persistent and or serial abuse of company law obligations was before the court," Mr Appleby said.
"In today's cases, the court has accepted that aggravating circumstances may lead to disqualification periods in excess of five years, particularly where there is evidence of persistent unscrupulous behaviour by directors who walk away from insolvent companies and allow them to be involuntarily struck off."
The longest disqualification, for 12 years, was handed down to Martin Allen, of Glebe Cottage, Enfield, Co Meath. He was a director of eight companies when they were struck off.
These included European ICT Resource Facilities, a call-centre in Swords, Co Dublin. The others were: Champion Telecom; Diamond Telecom; Foxburg International; M. Allen Magazine Publishers; Ovid Print Media; the Minute Business and Thorin International.
Four of the eight had liabilities in excess of €600,000. Mr Allen was involved in another three firms, two of which encountered difficulty and had liabilities totalling €490,000.
The court handed down an eight-year disqualification to Peter Banks, of Hill House, Hill of Allen, Co Kildare. Mr Banks was a director of four companies linked to Mr Allen. The companies - Diamond Telecom; Foxburg International; Ovid Print Media and Thorin International - had total liabilities in excess of €450,000.
Thomas Donoghue, of Ballinderry Orchards, Ballinderry, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, received a six-year disqualification in respect of three companies. Specified Aluminium Systems, Renson (Ireland) and Seam-Ireland had liabilities totalling more than €200,000.
Each of the businessmen, who did not defend the legal actions, is prohibited from being involved with any company for the duration of his disqualification.
"While disqualification will not usually result in the persons involved receiving payment of their outstanding debts, it does mean that the delinquent directors are prevented from disrupting commercial markets for a number of years in the future," Mr Appleby said.
"The cases before the High Court today involved directors who were associated with multiple companies that had been struck off the companies register for failing to submit annual returns and where, in some cases, there was evidence of substantial liabilities to creditors."
