Court-appointed liquidations in the first half of the year have more than tripled with enforcement actions linked to the conclusion of Revenue’s debt warehousing scheme, according to a report by PwC.
PwC’s latest Insolvency Barometer, analysing insolvencies for the second quarter of 2025, shows insolvencies remain steady at 2024 levels despite an almost 20 per cent uptick in the second quarter of 2025.
However, court-appointed liquidations rose by nearly 40 per cent in the second quarter to 34 compared with 25 in the first quarter, bringing the total to 59 for the first half of the year – more than three times that recorded (19) during the same period in 2024.
The Office of the Revenue Commissioners was the petitioner of 38 of these 59 cases. For the same period last year, there were five Revenue petitions.
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PwC said the uptick “suggests that the elevated enforcement actions are linked to the recovery of debts following the conclusion of Revenue’s debt warehousing scheme”.
The scheme, which included a 0 per cent interest rate, was introduced in 2020 to provide liquidity support to businesses during the Covid-19 crisis, allowing them to defer paying various tax liabilities until their financial position returned to normal.
The number of retail insolvencies more than doubled in the second quarter of 2025 (53) compared with the first quarter of the year (25). “This increase comes after the industry demonstrated strong resilience post-Christmas,” PwC said.
However, despite the spike in the second quarter, the total number of retail insolvencies for the first half of the year (78) is still slightly lower compared with the same period last year (84).
The hospitality industry recorded 35 insolvencies in the second quarter, which was a decrease of 19 per cent from 43 insolvencies recorded the previous quarter.
This level of hospitality insolvencies is closely in line with the average of 39 insolvencies per quarter observed across 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, “indicating a consistency within the industry due to ongoing macroeconomic and sector-specific challenges”, the report said.
The second quarter of 2025 saw an almost 20 per cent rise in overall insolvencies compared with the first quarter, bringing total insolvencies for first half of 2025 in line with the same period of 2024.
The second quarter of 2025 recorded 229 insolvencies, an almost 20 per cent increase compared with the lower insolvencies in the first quarter (192).
At the same time, total insolvencies for the first half of the year (421) are exactly in line with the number of insolvencies recorded in the same six-month period of 2024.
“This consistency suggests that the Irish economy and Irish businesses continue to demonstrate resilience amid domestic challenges and international geopolitical uncertainties,” PwC said.
Receivership appointments fell significantly to 19 in the second quarter from the 36 recorded in the first quarter. The total number of receiverships for the first half of 2025 stands at 55, an increase of 17 per cent over the same period last year (47).
The report shows an annual insolvency rate of 29 per 10,000 businesses. The current rate is more than double the rate of 14 per 10,000 recorded in 2021 and remains below the 20-year average of 50 per 10,000 businesses.
The annual insolvency rate remains far below the previous peak of 109 per 10,000 businesses recorded in 2012.
