The system, which has fielded more than 50,000 applications since its creation and was one of the first of its kind in Europe, has been intensely scrutinized since February when a tribunal ordered the regulator to reassess its refusal to authorize the would-be chairman of two Irish investment funds, Bloomberg News reported.

The first six months of this year have seen the highest rate of corporate insolvencies in Ireland since 2018, according to a study by Deloitte, the Irish Independent reported. Their research found there have been 412 insolvencies since January – up 25pc on the same period in 2023. Of those, 77 were in the hospitality sector, which was an 88 percent year-on-year increase. Deloitte calculates that Ireland is on course for over 800 insolvencies in the full year, which would be 25pc up on 2023. Almost all the firms going bust are small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The Insolvency Service of Ireland said that it saw an increase in demand for its services last year with applications for insolvency solutions, other than bankruptcy, increasing by 20% compared to 2022, RTE.ie reported. In its annual report released Friday, the ISI said 72 people were adjudicated bankrupt in 2023, down from 105 in 2022. 99 people also exited bankruptcy last year. More than 1,560 new insolvency applications were made last year, while the ISE website reported a total of 87,791 visits.

Since its chaotic handling of the alleged cheating scandal in 2022, the reputation of An Coimisiún Le Rincí­ Gaelacha (CLRG) has hinged on it trying to bring the cases of the 44 people accused of so-called feis fixing to a satisfactory conclusion. That will now never happen. And in the midst of the latest scandal, it has also emerged the CLRG is facing insolvency, the Irish Independent reported. Those who had been accused are furious: many maintain that had they had the benefit of a hearing, they would have been cleared of gross misconduct.

Office landlords, battered by a global crash, have been clinging to the hope that new buildings with strong green credentials will still demand top rents and prices. Dublin is emerging as a cautionary tale that such optimism may not hold up, Bloomberg News reported. In the city’s North Docks district, new buildings are falling into bankruptcy protection after US tech firms scaled back the amount of new space they leased and borrowing costs rose.

Lawyers for top liquidator Kieran Wallace cannot “drive a coach and four” through insolvency legislation with a novel claim for over €6 million on behalf of an insolvent pension fund, a State barrister has said, the Irish Times reported. The remark was made on the final day of hearing into a complaint under the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act 1984, taken by Mr Wallace against the Minister for Enterprise.

A builder who became insolvent ­following the construction sector crash in the late 2000s has had more than €2.2m in debt written off in return for a lump-sum payment of €80,000, the Irish Independent reported. Under a personal insolvency arrangement (PIA) approved by the High Court, David Lawlor (60) will be able to retain his family home, which was in negative equity. The court heard Mr Lawlor, a separated farmer and maintenance worker from Dragoon Hill, Hollywood, Co Wicklow, had overall debts of €2.7m.

Activity in the Republic of Ireland’s services sector expanded again in February but the growth was accompanied “by rising price pressures”, AIB has said, the Irish Times reported. The bank’s latest purchasing managers index for services rose to 54.4 last month, up from 50.5 in January, signalling the fastest rate of expansion in six months. Any figure above 50 indicates expansion. The increased level of activity, however, was accompanied by a worrying uptick with input prices and charges rising at the fastest rates in 10 and 12 months respectively.

A Dublin landlord and accountant has had his bankruptcy extended by seven years over what a judge described as “egregious” failure to co-operate with the official administering it, including by not disclosing information about his income and assets, the Irish Times reported. The High Court’s Mr Justice Liam Kennedy said the evidence was there may be as many as 43 properties in which Fintan Egan has an interest, making his failure to co-operate “all the more egregious”. Mr Egan was adjudicated bankrupt on the petition of the Revenue Commissioners in November 2022.

Like a lot of explosive financial scandals, the story of Michael Quinn and Brendan Cahill could fairly be described as a simple proposition that spun completely out of control, the New York Times reported. Quinn was an Irish oil-and-gas man with warm eyes and a mustache; Cahill was his longtime partner, an accountant by training. The two had been working in Nigeria since the 1970s, doing small-time deals in the energy and defense sectors, like fixing tanks and siting oil wells. But in the mid-2000s, they spied a bigger opportunity.