A total of 21 company officers were disqualified from acting in leading positions in firms last year, according to the Office of the Director of Coporate Enforcement (ODCE).
This represents a large increase from three in 2004. One of those disqualified was given a 10-year ban as a consequence of the findings of the inspectors report on National Irish Bank
Some 30 companies, compnay directors and other persons were convicted on 49 charges for breaching various requirements of the Companies Act, compared to 66 in 2004.
More than 1,000 people, most of them disqualified because of conviction for fraud or corporate offences, were recorded in the Register of Disqualified Persons last year.
There was substantial growth in traffic to the ODCE's website - visits increased by 53 per cent in 2005 to almost 179,000.
Director Paul Appleby said at this morning's launch: "Now that we have a few years' successful work under our belts, we have set ourselves the challenging task of adding to our traditional mix of activities by targeting new areas for compliance and enforcement work every year.
"These will be time, resource and expertise intensive, but we want over time to widen the scope of our work and address problems of non-compliance across the spectrum of small, medium and large companies.
"We hope to receive a definitive decision in the coming months on our request for additional staffing to help us improve our impact in the public interest."