A perfect storm of rising interest rates, soaring energy and labour costs and the axing of emergency State supports has led to a tsunami of business failures in 2023, the Sunday Business Post reports.
A wave of companies in the construction, nursing home, hospitality and services sectors have hit the wall at a rate even higher than pre-Covid insolvency levels, new figures demonstrate. Figures compiled by Deloitte show a total of 478 Irish businesses have become insolvent in the first nine months of this year.
Business failures are expected to exceed 600 cases this year – the highest level in five years. Insolvency experts are also warning that the current figures remain “artificially low” and a further spike in business failures will continue into 2024, especially when a May deadline forces more than 6,000 companies to repay over €1.6 billion in warehoused tax debt owed to Revenue.
HiberGene Diagnostics collapse now under investigation by corporate watchdog
The collapse of HiberGene Diagnostics – a former rising star of the Irish healthtech sector – is now under investigation by the Corporate Enforcement Authority, the firm’s liquidator has confirmed, according to a report in the Sunday Independent. The Enterprise Ireland-backed firm collapsed with the loss of as much as €15 million in shareholders’ money last year after a period of serious unrest between management and a large group of investors.
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Robert Watt can get things done, Donnelly says
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has defended Robert Watt, his secretary general, saying he “can get things done”, after suggestions in the Dáil that Watt lacks the mindset to push for a properly funded health service, a report in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times says.
During Dáil statements last Thursday regarding the shortfall in health funding in the latest budget, Róisín Shortall, the Social Democrats TD, said the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform was a “disgrace”. She said department officials failed to understand the needs of a properly functioning health service.
On Watt, Shortall said: “I cannot help but comment on the fact that the secretary general... came directly from what was then the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.”
€4.8m Anglo Irish fund, with members including Seán FitzPatrick and Bernard McNamara, wound up
An investment partnership that served as a vehicle to allow some of the biggest names in Irish business to invest in a Cayman Islands fund has been wound up, distributing about €4.8 million to its members, according to a report in the Sunday Independent. Members of the UK incorporated partnership – originally set up during the tumultuous days after Ireland’s financial and banking world fell into turmoil at the end of the Celtic Tiger – included well-known names such as banker Sean FitzPatrick, builder Bernard McNamara and businessman Gary McGann.
State to double Storm Babet flood aid to €40,000 for worst-hit firms
The Government is planning to double to €40,000 the amount of money that businesses worst hit by Storm Babet can claim in emergency grants after historic floods in Cork and Waterford in recent days, the Sunday Business Post reports.
Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney will bring a memo to Cabinet on Tuesday proposing improvements to the existing flood relief scheme for businesses in the towns most impacted by a storm that brought a month’s worth of rain in just one day.
The scheme – which offers payouts of between €5,000 and €20,000 for businesses impacted by storm damage – will be kept as is for most companies in Cork and Waterford.
But the Government will implement an additional scheme for towns particularly badly hit – such as Midleton in Co Cork – which will at least double the maximum they can avail of through the scheme.
