Irish company meeting notice: the latest day to send it

The rule, in the Act's own words

Source: Companies Act 2014, section 181 (revised), Law Reform Commission. Read 26 October 2026.

Section 181(1): "Save where the constitution of the company makes provision for the giving of greater notice, a meeting of a company, other than an adjourned meeting, shall be called—

(a) in the case of the annual general meeting or an extraordinary general meeting for the passing of a special resolution, by not less than 21 days' notice;

(b) in the case of any other extraordinary general meeting, by not less than 7 days' notice."

Section 181(3): "Where notice of a meeting is given by posting it by ordinary prepaid post to the registered address of a member, then, for the purposes of any issue as to whether the correct period of notice for that meeting has been given, the giving of the notice shall be deemed to have been effected on the expiration of 24 hours following posting."

Section 181(4): "In determining whether the correct period of notice has been given by a notice of a meeting, neither the day on which the notice is served nor the day of the meeting for which it is given shall be counted."

Source: Companies Act 2014, section 218 (revised), Law Reform Commission. Read 26 October 2026.

Section 218(2) (opening words): "Subsection (5) shall only apply if there is contained in the company's constitution a provision to the effect that it shall apply"

Section 218(5): "Any notice served or given in accordance with subsection (3) shall be deemed, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary between the company (or, as the case may be, the officer of it) and the member, to have been served or given—

(a) in the case of its being delivered, at the time of delivery (or, if delivery is refused, when tendered);

(c) in the case of its being posted (to an address in the State) on any day other than a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, 24 hours after despatch and in the case of its being posted (to such an address)—

(i) on a Friday — 72 hours after despatch; or

(ii) on a Saturday or Sunday — 48 hours after despatch;

(d) in the case of electronic means being used in relation to it, 12 hours after despatch,

but this subsection is without prejudice to section 181(3)."

So a posted notice is always served 24 hours after posting for the notice-period test under section 181(3), and if your constitution adopts section 218(5) it is also served 72 hours after a Friday posting or 48 hours after a weekend one. When both can apply, the page shows both and recommends the earlier sending day.

Source: Companies Act 2014, section 175 (revised) and section 1202 (revised), Law Reform Commission. Read 26 October 2026.

Section 175(1): "Subject to subsections (2) and (3), a company shall in each year hold a general meeting as its annual general meeting in addition to any other meetings in that year and shall specify the meeting as such in the notices calling it and not more than 15 months shall elapse between the date of one annual general meeting of a company and that of the next."

Section 1202: "Section 175(3) and (4) (which relate to dispensing with the holding of an annual general meeting) shall not apply to a CLG if it has more than one member."

A CLG with more than one member holds an AGM every year; it cannot use the written-resolution route that lets a company skip one.

How the page counts

• The period is the Act's 21 or 7 days, or your constitution's figure if it is larger. Section 181(1) says the Act's figure gives way to greater notice in the constitution, never to less.
• The day the notice counts as served and the day of the meeting are both left out, as section 181(4) says. The days between them must come to the full period.
• By post, the notice counts as served 24 hours after posting under section 181(3). If your constitution adopts section 218(5), or you don't know, the page also works the date under section 218(5)(c), which makes a Friday posting 72 hours and a weekend posting 48 hours, and recommends the earlier sending day.
• Electronically with section 218(5) adopted, the notice counts as served 12 hours after despatch; we do not ask the hour, so we treat it as served the day after sending. Without the clause the Act sets no deemed time: we take the day you send as the day of service and rely on the buffer. We have not invented a deemed time.
• By hand, the notice counts as served on the day it is delivered.
• "Send no later than" is the statutory latest day less one day. That one day is our buffer, shown as such; it is not in the Act.
• Check your own count against your constitution; this is a date calculation aid, not legal advice.

UK companies: not yet

This page works only for companies under the Irish Companies Act 2014. A UK version needs the Companies Act 2006 notice and deemed-delivery rules and the bank holidays of each UK nation checked first, and is not on this page.

How we check this rule

Every rule above is quoted character for character from one data file on this page, which names the source it came from, its address and the date we read it. Last checked against legislation 26 October 2026. The sources:

• Companies Act 2014, section 181 (revised), Law Reform Commission, read on 26 October 2026.
• Companies Act 2014, section 218 (revised), Law Reform Commission, read on 26 October 2026.
• Companies Act 2014, section 175 (revised) and section 1202 (revised), Law Reform Commission, read on 26 October 2026.

Not worked out on this page, on purpose:

• Special notice of a resolution (section 142 and section 146 cases).
• Adjourned meetings.
• Consent to shorter notice under section 181(2).
• Members who cannot be served by the chosen method, or whose registered address is outside the State.
• UK companies: not yet.

If a rule changes or we find an error, we correct the page and record it here.