The number of companies set up in Ireland fell 4 per cent last year to 21,924 in 2020, the lowest number level since 2016, as the Covid-19 pandemic weighed on the domestic economy, according to credit risk analysis firm CRIFVision-net.
According to the data, the second quarter of the year recorded the lowest number of company start-ups, at 3,998. Last April was the worst month for start-ups, at 1,075, since December 2012, it said.
Still, the number of companies established in the final three months of the year was up 20 per cent on the third quarter, at 6,583, it said.
Meanwhile, the overall insolvency rate for 2020 fell by 10.7 per cent to 570 insolvencies for the year, according to CRIFVision-net’s data. This decrease can be widely attributed to the prolonged closure of courts during the Covid-19 pandemic, it said.
"From the early stages of the pandemic, the Government was quick to provide support for SMEs and new business start-ups, introducing a range of measures that have been consistently extended and adapted in line with Covid-19 developments," said Christine Cullen, managing director of CRIFVision-net.
“While these supports have played a vital role in facilitating early recovery, the concern now is that the return to lockdown restrictions will reverse the progress that has been made so far.”
Ms Cullen added: “The impact of prolonged closures and restrictions on businesses has been well documented over the course of the pandemic, and while restrictions are important now, we must ensure that we are simultaneously developing a sustainable environment in which businesses can recover.”
