Legal forms in Ireland: LTD, DAC, CLG and more

Every legal form in Ireland, each with its abbreviation, the kind of entity it is, liability and typical use where they are well established, and the values the Prometiam company object returns.

This guide lists the 19 legal forms the Prometiam dictionary knows for Ireland: what each is called, how it is abbreviated, what kind of entity it is and how it appears in the company object. Use it to read the legal_form of a company registered in Ireland, or to decode a form you meet in a contract or on an invoice. It is a general reference, not legal advice.

The main legal forms in Ireland

Form	Abbreviation	Kind	What to know
Private company limited by shares	LTD, Limited	Private limited company	A private company limited by shares under the Companies Act 2014: liability is limited to the unpaid share capital, it can be formed with a single director, and it has no objects clause.
Designated activity company	DAC, D.A.C.	Private limited company	A designated activity company: a private company whose constitution has an objects clause that restricts what it may do.
Company limited by guarantee	CLG, CTR	Private limited company	A company limited by guarantee: no share capital; the members guarantee a sum. Typical for charities, clubs and non-profits.
Public limited company	PLC, CPT	Public limited company (joint-stock company)	A public limited company: it may offer shares to the public and needs minimum allotted share capital of EUR 25,000.
Private unlimited company	UC, CN	Private limited company	A private company whose members’ liability has no limit.

How a legal form appears in the API

Every company object carries four legal-form fields: legal_form (the standard abbreviation, null when the form is not mapped), legal_form_family (the cross-country family, so a private limited company compares across countries), local_legal_form (the register’s own value or code as stored) and local_legal_form_name (the register’s name for it, where it publishes one). Each form below shows the values the API returns for it.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_live_..." \
  "https://api.prometiam.com/functions/v1/risk-api/companies/search?country=IE&name=<company name>"

# each result carries, for example:
#   "legal_form": "LTD"
#   "legal_form_family": "private_limited_company"

Private limited companies in Ireland

Private limited company: a company with its own legal personality whose owners are, as a rule, not personally liable for its debts and whose shares are not offered to the public.

Private company limited by shares (LTD)

A private company limited by shares under the Companies Act 2014: liability is limited to the unpaid share capital, it can be formed with a single director, and it has no objects clause.

• Also: Teoranta (Irish)
• Abbreviations: LTD, Limited, Teo.
• In the API: legal_form LTD, legal_form_family private_limited_company, local_legal_form LTD - Private Company Limited by Shares or Private or Private limited by shares

Designated activity company (DAC)

A designated activity company: a private company whose constitution has an objects clause that restricts what it may do.

• Also: Cuideachta Ghníomhaíochta Ainmnithe (Irish)
• Abbreviations: DAC, D.A.C., CGA
• In the API: legal_form DAC, legal_form_family private_limited_company, local_legal_form DAC - Designated Activity Company (limit or DAC- Designated Activity Company (limite or DAC-Designated Activity Company (limited

Company limited by guarantee (CLG)

A company limited by guarantee: no share capital; the members guarantee a sum. Typical for charities, clubs and non-profits.

• Variant: limited by guarantee
• Also: Cuideachta faoi Theorainn Ráthaíochta (Irish)
• Abbreviations: CLG, CTR
• In the API: legal_form CLG, legal_form_family private_limited_company, local_legal_form CLG - Company Limited by Guarantee or CLG-Company Limited by Guarantee (licenc or Guarantee

Private unlimited company (UC)

A private company whose members’ liability has no limit.

• Variant: unlimited liability
• Also: Cuideachta Neamhtheoranta (Irish)
• Abbreviations: UC, CN, ULC
• In the API: legal_form UC, legal_form_family private_limited_company, local_legal_form Private unlimited or Private unlimited with share capital or ULC - Private Unlimited Company

Single-member private company limited by shares

• Variant: single-member
• In the API: legal_form Single-member private company limited by shares, legal_form_family private_limited_company, local_legal_form Single member private company limited by

Single-member company limited by guarantee with a share capital

• Variant: single-member, limited by guarantee
• In the API: legal_form Single-member company limited by guarantee with a share capital, legal_form_family private_limited_company, local_legal_form Single member company ltd by g/tee with

Public limited companies in Ireland

Public limited company (joint-stock company): a company with its own legal personality and share capital whose owners are, as a rule, not personally liable; the family of forms that can usually raise money from the public.

Public limited company (PLC)

A public limited company: it may offer shares to the public and needs minimum allotted share capital of EUR 25,000.

• Also: Cuideachta Phoiblí Theoranta (Irish)
• Abbreviations: PLC, CPT
• In the API: legal_form PLC, legal_form_family public_limited_company, local_legal_form PLC - Public Limited Company or Public or Public limited company

Public unlimited company (PUC)

• Variant: unlimited liability
• Also: Cuideachta Neamhtheoranta Phoiblí (Irish)
• Abbreviations: PUC, CNP
• In the API: legal_form PUC, legal_form_family public_limited_company, local_legal_form PUC - Public Unlimited Company or Public unlimited company with a share ca

Public unlimited company without share capital (PULC)

• Variant: unlimited liability
• Abbreviations: PULC
• In the API: legal_form PULC, legal_form_family public_limited_company, local_legal_form PULC - Public Unlimited Company without or Public unlimited company without share c

Societas Europaea (SE)

• Variant: European-law form
• Abbreviations: SE
• In the API: legal_form SE, legal_form_family public_limited_company, local_legal_form Societas Europaea - Formation of Subsidi or Societas Europaea - New Incorporation or Societas Europaea - PLC conversion

Limited partnerships in Ireland

Limited partnership: at least one partner answers without limit for the debts, the others only up to what they contributed.

Limited partnership (LP)

• Abbreviations: LP
• In the API: legal_form LP, legal_form_family limited_partnership, local_legal_form the register’s own text

Sole proprietorships in Ireland

Sole proprietorship: one person trading in their own name with no separate company; the owner is, as a rule, personally liable.

Sole trader (registered business name)

A natural person, not a company.

• Also: Trádálaí aonair (Irish)
• In the API: legal_form Sole trader (registered business name), legal_form_family sole_proprietorship, local_legal_form the register’s own text

Cooperatives in Ireland

Cooperative: an organisation owned and run by its members.

Co-operative society (industrial and provident society)

• In the API: legal_form Co-operative society (industrial and provident society), legal_form_family cooperative, local_legal_form the register’s own text

Economic interest groupings in Ireland

Economic interest grouping: members cooperate in a shared activity while staying independent businesses.

European economic interest grouping (EEIG)

• Variant: European-law form
• Abbreviations: EEIG
• In the API: legal_form EEIG, legal_form_family economic_interest_grouping, local_legal_form European economic interest grouping

Branches of foreign companies in Ireland

Branch of a foreign company: an establishment or registration of a company incorporated abroad.

External company (branch)

• In the API: legal_form External company (branch), legal_form_family branch_of_foreign_company, local_legal_form External company or Foreign Body Corporate making a local of

Investment funds in Ireland

Investment fund or investment company.

Irish collective asset-management vehicle (ICAV)

• Variant: investment
• Abbreviations: ICAV
• In the API: legal_form ICAV, legal_form_family investment_fund, local_legal_form the register’s own text

Investment company with variable capital (Part 24 Companies Act 2014) (IC)

• Variant: investment
• Abbreviations: IC
• In the API: legal_form IC, legal_form_family investment_fund, local_legal_form IC - Investment company - Part 24 Compan or Private company with variable capital or Public limited company with variable cap

Undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS)

• Variant: investment
• Abbreviations: UCITS, U.C.I.T, UCIT
• In the API: legal_form UCITS, legal_form_family investment_fund, local_legal_form U.C.I.T or UCITS - Undertaking for Collective Inves

Other entity types in Ireland

Other entity type.

Inward migrating company (IMC)

• Abbreviations: IMC
• In the API: legal_form IMC, legal_form_family other, local_legal_form Inward Migrating Company

Look up a IE company

See the Ireland company data API guide for the register behind these records and the free CRO number lookup to try an identifier. For the register states that go with these forms, read company status in Ireland. All countries: company legal forms.

Check legal forms in your own data

Search by name or identifier and read legal_form, legal_form_family and local_legal_form on every result, or filter a bulk list by family.

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