A total of 116 Irish companies collapsed in May, a 25 per cent fall compared with the same month last year.
A total of 609 corporate insolvencies were recorded in the first five months of 2013, according to figures compiled by Kavanagh Fennell's insolvencyjournal.ie website. This compares with 742 from January to May 2012, a fall of 18 per cent.
Leinster was the worst affected province, accounting for 68 per cent of corporate insolvencies in May, followed by Munster with 18 per cent, Connaught with 9 per cent and Ulster with 5 per cent.
Construction was the worst affected industry, with 151 businesses entering the insolvency process since January this year. This was a 20 per cent drop on the same period in 2012, however.
A total of 98 businesses in the retail sector failed in the period, an 8 per cent increase on last year.
May brought some positive news for the Irish retail sector, the report states, with both B&Q and Pamela Scott successfully exiting examinership, saving around 770 jobs.
The hospitality sector has seen 79 corporate failures so far this year, an increase of 36 per cent on the same period in 2012.
The report said there had been some positive outcomes for the sector, including last week’s sale of Ashford Castle in Co Mayo which entered receivership last year. The deal will allow the hotel to continue to trade and secure 160 jobs.
A total of 1,684 businesses collapsed in 2012, marking the fifth consecutive annual rise in numbers.
The Insolvency Service of Ireland will begin taking applications from personal insolvency practitioners (PIPs) in June, which is expected to increase take-up for the process, the report said.
Commenting on the statistics, David Van Dessel of Kavanagh Fennell said the fall in corporate insolvencies was likely to continue for the rest of the year, but personal insolvency is "expected to come to the fore".
“We would also anticipate an increase in examinerships when the new legislation is passed expanding the criteria for applications to the Circuit Court hopefully making examinership more accessible for SMEs,” he added.
