Business insolvencies in Northern Ireland soared by 62% in the final quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year, government figures show, the Irish News reported. But on the flip side, more than 13,200 start-ups were launched over the last 12 months. There were 81 company insolvencies in the north in the October-December period, according to the Insolvency Service, taking the total number of business failures over the calendar year to more than 200.

An application to extend the bankruptcy of Wexford businessman Alan Hynes over his alleged non-cooperation with the official administering of his bankruptcy has been adjourned to next month, the reported. Mr Hynes has brought a separate application to “annul” his bankruptcy and is seeking legal aid to pursue that, Mr Justice Liam Kennedy heard on Monday.

The Irish High Court has appointed joint provisional liquidators to a firm that issues prepaid cards allowing customers to buy goods and services throughout the European Union, the Irish Independent reported. On Wednesday, Mr Justice Mark Sanfey appointed insolvency practitioners Kieran Wallace and Andrew O'Leary of Interpath Advisory Ireland as provisional liquidators to PFS Card Services Ireland Ltd, which is owned by the Australian financial technology group EML.

More than 20 primary schools who reported to be in financial difficulty sought emergency funding from the Department of Education last year in the face of rising costs. However, latest records indicate that just one school was successful in securing additional funding, the Irish Times reported. Minister for Education Norma Foley has told schools which are experiencing funding difficulties to engage with the financial support services unit in the department.

Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe, whose leadership of euro-area finance ministers has elevated his global profile, is considering a bid to lead the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. Donohoe, 49, is currently Ireland’s minister for public expenditure and served as finance minister from 2017 to 2022. He has led the Eurogroup — the body of finance chiefs that steered the bloc through its sovereign debt crisis and the pandemic — since mid-2020, having been elected late last year for a second 2 ½-year term.

It was one of very few economies to get a boost from the Covid-19 pandemic. That unusual dividend is now unraveling, in a fresh blow to Europe’s already weakened growth outlook, the Wall Street Journal reported. Home to large U.S. technology and pharmaceutical companies that saw their sales boom during the pandemic, tiny Ireland recorded annual growth of 10.5% on average between 2020 and 2022 while other economies contracted under the effect of lockdowns. No other country grew as fast during this time apart from smaller Guyana, which enjoyed an oil boom.

Mallinckrodt plc (in examination under Part 10 of the Companies Act 2014 of Ireland, and hereinafter "Mallinckrodt" or the "Company") announced on Friday that the High Court of Ireland (the "Irish High Court") has made an Order confirming a scheme of arrangement between the Company, its creditors and shareholders (the "Scheme") as proposed by the Examiner of the company, according to a press release. As previously announced, Mallinckrodt's Plan of Reorganization (the "Plan") was confirmed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on October 10, 2023.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ will be insolvent by next spring if it does not receive proper funding, its director general has said, BBC.com reported. Kevin Bakhurst made the claim at a hearing of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) Public Affairs Committee on Thursday. He and other RTÉ officials are answering questions over a payments scandal that has plagued the public broadcaster since June. Mr Bakhurst said the organisation was managing its cash "as carefully as we can" to prevent this.

Countries like Saudi Arabia, Norway and Chile have long used sovereign-wealth funds to sock away windfall profits from periods of high prices for commodity exports like oil and metals for future years when their own production winds down or international prices plunge, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ireland on Tuesday created its own rainy-day fund thanks to outsize profits from an unusual and controversial source of income: U.S. technology and pharmaceutical giants seeking to lower their tax bills.

A sharp rise in Irish business insolvencies is being linked to ongoing inflation pressures faced by businesses in all sectors, the Irish Examiner reported. Data from CRIFVision-Net for the third quarter shows the number of companies becoming insolvent rose by 54% compared to the same period last year. A total of 185 insolvencies were recorded in July, August, and September, versus 120 in the third quarter of 2022. Ireland’s economy has remained relatively strong this year despite cost-of-living challenges and a mixed global outlook.