AS many as 28 businesses in Clare went bust during the first six months of this year.
According to insolvencyjournal.ie, February and May were particularly difficult for companies in Clare with six businesses in each month unable to honour their debts.
The month of June showed a halving of the number declared insolvent in Clare, however, with just three businesses making the list.
The county compares favourably to the neighbouring county of Galway, where 49 companies were declared insolvent between January 2010 and June of the same year.
In Limerick, which includes the largest city in the mid west, 27 businesses were declared insolvent during this period, one less than in Clare.
Clare had the second highest insolvency figures in Munster, surpassed only by Cork with 67 companies declared insolvent.
Nationally insolvencies for the first six months of the year increased by 27 per cent compared to last year.
In total 792 insolvencies were recorded, a number that surpasses the complete figure for 2008.
Companies operating in the domestic market were particularly badly affected in the first six months of the year. Construction, services, hospitality and retail - traditionally domestic sectors - accounted for almost three quarters of all insolvencies with one in three failures occurring in the construction industry.
Export-led sectors, such as manufacturing, wholesale and transport sectors are doing much better than expected however.
Not all of the companies that were declared insolvent entered liquidation, however, with some still trading while in receivership or examinership.
Commenting on the statistics, Tom Kavanagh, a partner in Kavanagh Fennell said, “Based on this trend, it is probable that there will be close to 1,800 insolvencies this year and if the figure for personal asset receiverships is included, insolvencies are likely to be over 2,000 for the year.” “While the domestic sectors are still struggling, export-led sectors such as manufacturing, wholesale and transport are holding up well, accounting for just 13 per cent of failures,” said Mr Kavanagh.
Dublin continues to account for the majority of failures, with 322 insolvencies for the year-to-date - 40 per cent of the national total. Whilst, Carlow recorded the lowest number of insolvencies in the first six months of the year with only two companies going bust in the county.
One of the most surprising figures to emerge from the latest statistics is that insolvencies in the motor sector remained static this year, despite the introduction of the car scrappage scheme in December’s budget. Although sales of new cars increased by 41 per cent in the first five months of 2010 22 insolvencies were recorded in the first half of 2010, the same as last year.
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