Although the website was soon restored, the CRO has admitted that uncorrectable security flaws mean its staff cannot edit the site to publish the gazette for fear of opening it up to attack again.

Under Irish law, companies are obliged to notify their document filings in the gazette within six weeks of submitting them to the CRO.

However, the CRO has said the gazette may not be published until April.

According to Fine Gael's enterprise spokesman, Phil Hogan, companies have been left in an "outrageous" situation where they cannot comply with the law.

"It's another example of technology incompetence on the part of a state agency.

Two months is an incredible length of time to be left waiting by the government for the resumption of proper corporate governance, " Hogan said.

According to a leading company lawyer, the move also raises significant issues with regard to public accountability.

"The general public are at a disadvantage now as there's no other way of getting the list of filings, " said Chelita Healy, a partner at O'Donnell Sweeney solicitors.

"Besides showing which companies have filed their annual returns, it shows other things such as which companies have changed their directors or their registered office. Now, however, the general public won't know what people are getting involved in different companies."

In general companies do not actually have to put notifications in the gazette, as they are automatically inserted by the CRO. However, a CRO spokeswoman claimed it could not be held legally responsible for not publishing the notifications.

"It's the company's legal obligation to do these things but the registrar does it as a matter of practice."

She said the CRO was seeking a company to build it a new website using emergency provisions that allow it to bypass the normal legal tendering process.

She said, however, that the most important element of the gazette - strike-off notices that warn firms that are about to be removed from the company's register - were still being published in the government gazette, Iris OifigiA0il.