Companies Act 2014 section 558B

Requirements where eligible company wishes to avail of rescue plan

Section 558B sets out the conditions that must be satisfied before an eligible small or micro company can enter the rescue process, and describes the initial steps a director must take to commence that process.

• The company must be unable to pay its debts (or likely to become unable), and must not be subject to any existing winding-up resolution or court order, nor have had a process adviser or examiner appointed within the previous five years
• A director must carry out a full inquiry into the company's affairs and prepare a prescribed statement of assets, debts, liabilities, creditor details and securities, confirmed by statutory declaration
• The statement and statutory declaration must be submitted to a process adviser, who will then consider whether a rescue plan can be formulated to allow the company to survive as a going concern
• Including false or misleading information in the statement is a category 2 offence, though a defence exists where the director exercised reasonable skill and care and genuinely believed the information was true