The Covid-19 pandemic had a dramatic effect on Irish businesses, a new publication from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows, with some 24 per cent of the companies responding to its surveys in April and May 2020 temporarily or permanently ceasing trading.
Its report is published amid warnings that the full impact of the pandemic on businesses is only being felt this year.
Restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the virus triggered the highest seasonally adjusted monthly decrease in the volume of retail sales in April 2020, with sales falling 37.3 per cent that month. This was followed by sharp recoveries in May and June of that year as the economy reopened. The impact of restrictions on the sector was not as severe in subsequent lockdowns.
There were 291,489 active enterprises in the non-financial Irish business economy in 2020, with 1,598,643 people engaged in total, and a collective turnover of €816 billion. Services enterprises represented 37.3 per cent of this total, while industrial enterprises accounted for 36.7 per cent.
The 50 largest enterprises in the business economy, by gross value added (GVA), accounted for 46.4 per cent of total turnover, 59.7 per cent of total GVA and 73.2 per cent of gross operating surplus. However, these enterprises represented just 5.5 per cent of people engaged.
Large enterprises with more than 250 people accounted for two-thirds of all GVA in the Irish business economy and 58.1 per cent of turnover.
There were 8,342 foreign-owned multinationals operating in Ireland in 2020, with 457,990 people engaged. These enterprises had turnover of €581.9 billion and GVA of €201.6 billion.
By contrast, there were 283,147 Irish-owned enterprises, which had 1,140,653 people engaged. Their turnover was €234.1 billion and GVA was €74.2 billion.
“This particular report concentrates on the year 2020, but the full toll of Covid on employers and businesses is only becoming evident this year. Despite the huge pressure which the pandemic put on so many businesses, there was only a small increase in the number of Irish companies that wound up in 2020,” said Barry Whelan, chief executive of Excel Recruitment.
“However, there has been a sharp rise in the number of companies going bust this year as businesses have been hit with the double whammy of pandemic supports drying up and the cost-of-living crisis.”
