Issue 238 (Week ending 31/01/2015)

This January saw the continuation of the upward trend for start-ups recorded in 2014. Last month saw 3,713 company and business start-ups between the 1st and 28th of the month - up 16% on the same period in 2014.

Company start-ups, which reached pre-recession highs in 2014, were up 22.5% on the corresponding period of 2014 (1,409 v 1,150).

The most popular industry for start-ups last month was professional services which accounted for just over one in four new companies. The popularity of the real estate sector more than doubled with 84 start-ups recorded (compared to 41 in January 2014).

Over half of the new companies this January were formed in either Dublin (45%) or Cork (10%) while the number of start-ups in Galway doubled from 30 (in January 2014) to 60.

There was further positive news in the form of a drop in insolvencies. Last year saw the lowest number of corporate insolvencies recorded since 2009. This January saw 57 insolvent companies recorded - a drop of 38% on the same period in 2014 (92).