New research data shows that over the first seven months of this year, there were a total of 971 company failures.

Data from InsolvencyJournal.ie showed that from January-July, 4 companies a day went out of business. July showed a 9% increase in company closures from June, with 152 closings.

Ken Fennel of Kavanagh Fennell, the company that complied that data, said he expects that "there will be approximately 1,600 insolvencies during 2011." He also claimed that banks are continuing to take action to maximize recoveries and will continue to do so for the next year and a half or so.

One explanation as to the rising number of company failures is that “...weak consumer sentiment and the ongoing financial uncertainty in the eurozone continue to have an adverse effect on business."
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Last June, there were only 19 receivership appointments, but in July the number jumped by 20. “July also saw a 59% monthly rise in insolvencies in the construction sector, which has suffered 254 company failures so far this year, accounting for 26% of all insolvencies for the year, while the retail industry fared well with a 48% decrease, from 25 in June to 13 in July,” according to the Irish Examiner.

On the bright side, new data from Vision-net.ie shows that 15% of the companies - 578 of them - last year that owed money are now back in business. They're referred to as "phoenix companies" because they emerged from another, dead firm.

The downside to these miracle companies is that existing creditors of the business that the phoenix companies emerged out of - thus replacing them - can't reclaim their debts, and thus the phoenix firm can work with new suppliers. This risks a repeat of "unsatisfied debts" and failure all over again, according to the Examiner.