Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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748. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount collected in search fees by the Companies Registration Office in 2018; and the cost of eradicating search fees on its datasets. [36662/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Companies Registration Office (CRO), which is independent in the exercise of its statutory functions,  is the central repository of public statutory company law related information on Irish companies.  Its main functions are the provision of information to the public, the incorporation of companies and the registration of company post-incorporation documentation.

In 2018, the CRO received €909,873 in search fees. The average amount received in search fees over the past 5 years from 2014 - 2018 was €843,344 per year. The cost of abolishing search fees could result in an annual loss to the exchequer of approximately €843,344.  There would also be a small direct cost to the exchequer related to the IT work necessary to remove the fees function from the Company Search Facility.