81 companies currently on the Companies Registration Office (CRO) register were registered before 1922, which makes them older than the Irish State itself. The oldest is Southern Baptist Corporation Company Limited by Guarantee, registered on 9 July 1902 under company number 2675. Of the 81, 74 filed an annual return in 2025 or 2026. Seven have not filed since 2021 or earlier, and one has filed nothing since 1999.
That last figure is the reason this list is worth more than trivia, and we will come back to it.
There are 81. We pulled every company still sitting on the CRO register with a registration date earlier than 1922, the year the Irish Free State came into being.
They break down by decade like this.
| Decade registered | Number of companies |
|---|---|
| 1902 to 1909 | 29 |
| 1910 to 1919 | 38 |
| 1920 to 1921 | 14 |
| Total | 81 |
Forty of the 81 are registered at Dublin addresses and 12 in Cork. The other 29 are spread across Tipperary, Westmeath, Wexford, Galway, Louth, Clare, Wicklow, Carlow, Sligo, Longford, Limerick, Kildare, Kerry, Roscommon and Waterford.
Southern Baptist Corporation Company Limited by Guarantee holds the earliest registration date on the register, 9 July 1902. Its most recent annual return was filed on 30 September 2025.
These are the ten oldest by registration date.
| Company | Company Number | Registered | Last Annual Return |
| Southern Baptist Corporation | 2675 | 9 Jul 1902 | 30 Sep 2025 |
| John Jameson and Son Limited | 2701 | 16 Oct 1902 | 25 Mar 2026 |
| Cork Athletic Grounds Company Limited | 6045 | 1 Jan 1903 | 30 Sep 2021 |
| Veritas Communications | 6010 | 14 Jan 1903 | 25 Aug 2025 |
| Thomas Thompson Holdings Limited | 2728 | 17 Feb 1903 | 30 Jun 2026 |
| John Atkins & Co. Limited | 2827 | 16 Dec 1903 | 9 Mar 2026 |
| Incorporated Church of Ireland Cork Young Men's Association | 2830 | 23 Dec 1903 | 30 Apr 2026 |
| The Leinster Leader, Limited | 2856 | 24 Mar 1904 | 27 Aug 2018 |
| Henry Lyons & Company, Limited | 2863 | 12 Apr 1904 | 2 May 2025 |
| Protestant Aid | 2870 | 29 Apr 1904 | 25 Jun 2025 |
Plenty of names you would recognise are on the list, and several are still at the address they gave over a century ago.
Henry Lyons & Company in Sligo was registered in April 1904 and still gives its address as The Sligo Warehouse on Lower O'Connell Street. Edward Lee and Co. followed a month later on South Great George's Street, and Findlaters in October.
The company now called Mediahuis Ireland Group was registered on the last day of 1904. It still lists Independent House on Talbot Street.
Arthur Guinness Son & Company (Dublin) was registered in October 1906, with an address the register records simply as St. James's Gate. Johnson & Perrott went on the register in Cork in February 1907.
The Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was registered in July 1909. Five months later the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland was registered at 8 Merrion Square, where it still is today.
Registrations did not slow down during the First World War, the Rising and the War of Independence. They increased.
Thirty-eight of the 81 companies were registered between 1910 and 1919, more than in the eight years before it. People were opening hotels, forming golf clubs and setting up merchant businesses throughout.
Peamount Healthcare, March 1913. J.M. Barnardo & Son on Grafton Street, November 1913. The Tipperary Race Company, January 1914. Páirc an Chrócaigh, September 1914.
The Imperial Hotel in Lisdoonvarna, June 1915. Ballaghadereen Fairs and Markets Company, August 1916. Henry Ford & Son in Cork, April 1917. Castle Golf Club in Rathfarnham, December 1917.
One date stands out. On 16 September 1919, three separate companies were registered on the same day in three different counties: P. McCarthy & Sons in Tipperary Town, J.W. Green & Co. in Cork, and John P. Hopkins & Sons in Wicklow.
All three are still on the register. All three filed an annual return in the last twelve months.
The final entries before the cut-off come from the winter of 1921. The Gresham Hotel Company on 3 December, and Stella Picture Theatre two days later.
Company addresses record corporate history that the register never states outright. You just have to read them together.
John Jameson and Son, registered 1902, gives its address as Simmonscourt House in Ballsbridge. So does W. & E. Mulligan & Co., registered 1914. So does Irish Distillers Group, registered 1921.
All three filed their last annual return on the same day, 25 March 2026.
Three companies formed nineteen years apart, almost certainly three separate concerns at the start, now share a building and a filing date. The register does not use the word "acquired" anywhere. It just quietly puts them at the same desk.
The same pattern shows in Sandyford. Chadwicks Limited from March 1909 and Chadwicks Group Limited from the last day of 1909 both sit care of Grafton Group, and both filed on 25 September 2025.
Seven of the 81 have not filed an annual return since 2021 or earlier. The other 74 filed in 2025 or 2026, and Irish International Trading Corporation (Cork), registered in July 1920, filed as recently as 9 September 2026.
In Blanchardstown, two companies share Unit 45 at Rosemount Park Drive. Lalor Limited was registered in June 1909 and John G. Rathborne, Limited in March 1914.
Both last filed on 8 October 2021, on the same day, and neither has filed since. Whatever happened, it happened to both at once.
Cork Athletic Grounds Company Limited, registered on New Year's Day 1903 and still listed at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, last filed in September 2021. The Leinster Leader, registered in 1904, last filed in 2018. A-Wear Limited, registered in August 1907, last filed in 2010.
And at the end of the list, the longest silence of all. H. Johnston Limited was registered on 30 May 1914 at an address in Bray, County Wicklow.
Its last annual return was filed on 30 November 1999. It is still on the register today with that date beside it and nothing after it.
No. A registration date tells you when a legal entity was formed and nothing else about its current condition.
Every one of these 81 companies has an impressive registration date. If age were a proxy for stability, all 81 would pass any check you put in front of them. Seven would sail through having filed nothing for years, and one would pass having filed nothing this century.
The registration date also belongs to the entity rather than the brand above the door. Two companies on this list share an address at 46-50 South Great George's Street: Edward Lee and Co., registered 1904, and Dunnes Stores (George's Street), registered 1911.
Companies change names, owners and direction. The original registration date travels with the entity through all of it.
The fields that tell you where a company stands today are the company status, the last annual return date, the current directors and beneficial owners, and the recent filing history.
Search4less gives you that data across every company on the Irish register, including directors, beneficial owners and full filing history, with limitless CRO filing downloads on every subscription tier.
If you want to see what the register holds on a company you are dealing with, get in touch or start a trial and have a look for yourself.
Southern Baptist Corporation Company Limited by Guarantee, registered on 9 July 1902 under company number 2675, holds the earliest registration date currently on the CRO register.
81 companies on the register were registered before 1922, ahead of the establishment of the Irish Free State in December 1922.
Not necessarily. Being on the register is not the same as trading. 74 of the 81 filed an annual return in 2025 or 2026, which shows they are current with their filings. Seven have not filed since 2021 or earlier.
It tells you when the company last met its annual filing obligation with the CRO. A recent date means somebody is actively administering the company. A date several years in the past can indicate the business has wound down without being formally closed, or that it is heading towards involuntary strike off.
Company registration dates are held on the CRO register. Search4less provides registration dates, company status, directors, beneficial owners and full filing history for every company on the Irish register.
No. Age tells you the entity has existed for a long time. It does not tell you who controls it now, whether the business trading under that name is the same one, or whether the company is current with its filings.
These figures are taken from the CRO register and reflect the position as at September 2026. Company records change constantly, so treat the numbers as a snapshot rather than a permanent count. Search4less is a licensed CRO bulk data provider.