Yes where any member of the company misses its annual return date then no member within the group can avail of audit exemption (S.364(2)(3)(4) CA 2014). The only exception to this is where the first annual return (i.e. 6 month annual return) is missed, the group does not get excluded from audit exemption.
The ARD date for all companies must have been met as required by S.343 CA 2014 for the current financial year and the preceding financial year (S.364(2)(3)(4) CA 2014).