The Registrar of Friendly Societies has warned all the bodies which he regulates that failure to comply with their basic statutory requirements, particularly the submission of full and timely returns, will lead to him cancelling their registration.

Commenting on the release of the Registrar's 1998 report, the Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce, Mr Noel Treacy, said it highlighted that a number of bodies were not filing their statutory returns in full or on time.

"I would urge any society that has not complied in the past to regularise its affairs now and I also ask the Registrar to take the necessary enforcement action in the coming months."

Among the organisations regulated by the registrar are the 438 credit unions in the state, 96 friendly societies, 75 trade unions and 1,032 industrial and provident societies.

Mr Treacy said he was pleased that the registrar continued to give a general vote of confidence to credit unions in his report. He also noted the report contained good advice on subjects such as auditing, money-laundering and information technology.