Some 871 jobs were saved in SMEs through the examinership corporate recovery process in the first nine months of the year, according to new figures.

This marks a 20 per cent decline compared to the same period a year earlier when 1,089 jobs were saved through the process.

Among the companies to enter examinership this year were Mothercare Ireland, Best Menswear and Ladbrokes Ireland.

Examinership is a corporate rescue mechanism that allows insolvent companies that have a reasonable prospect of survival to seek court protection from creditors.

The success rate of examinerships - where the company moves through the process and emerges on the other side to continue to trade - stands high at 90 per cent for 2014.

According to chartered accountants Hughes Blake, there were 168 jobs saved through examinerships in the third quarter of 2015.

Neil Hughes, managing partner at the company said the decline in usage of the process was a positive sign for the economy. However, he warned that more supports were needed to help small and medium-sized businesses.