The number of businesses becoming insolvent has surged by a third in the first nine months of the year but remains below pre-Covid levels, the Irish Independent reported. Insolvency levels rose by 33pc in the first three quarters of 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to PwC’s latest Insolvency Barometer. The retail and construction sectors account for the highest number of business failures, but the failure rate is highest in the arts, entertainment and hospitality sector, according to Ken Tyrrell, business recovery partner, PwC Ireland.
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Drugmaker Mallinckrodt said on Thursday that it had initiated examinership proceedings in the High Court of Ireland, as it seeks protection from actions taken by creditors during the chapter 11 bankruptcy process, Reuters reported. The Ireland-based company filed for its second bankruptcy in the United States last month, with a restructuring plan that would cut $1 billion from what it owes to victims of the U.S. opioid crisis. Read more.
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A solicitor at a south Dublin law firm which had its accounts frozen by the High Court earlier this year has secured an order for statutory redundancy worth up to €6,400 against the practice, the Irish Times reported. Amanda Malone told the Workplace Relations Commission in April this year that her workplace had shut down on February 22nd this year, when she was out on sick leave. Ms.
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Some Bank of Ireland customers were able to withdraw money they did not have Tuesday and early Wednesday after an hours-long technical glitch that also halted many of the bank's online services, the Associated Press reported. The outage allowed some customers to transfer and withdraw funds “above their normal limits,” the Bank of Ireland said. Customers could withdraw up to €500 ($546) with their Bank of Ireland card, the bank confirmed to the Associated Press on Wednesday.
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Aircraft manufacturers are stabilising production runs but problems will likely persist in the supply chain as they ramp up deliveries in the next two years, the head of the world's third-largest aircraft lessor said on Thursday, Reuters reported. A rapid post-pandemic recovery in air travel has left planemakers and smaller suppliers struggling to keep up with demand amid rising costs, parts shortages and a scarcity of skilled labour.
“Robust demand” for space pushed the take-up rate in Dublin’s industrial and logistics property market to their second highest level for the first half of the year between January and June with construction activity reaching a record high, the Irish Times reported. In its latest report on the market, Savills Ireland said that 1.6 million sq ft of space was taken up in the first six months of the year, 620,000 sq ft in the second quarter of the year. The latter figure was in line with the five-year average, the property adviser said.
The High Court has appointed an interim examiner to the company that operates the Iceland chain of retail stores in Ireland, the Irish Examiner reported. The court heard Metron Stores Limited, which is in difficulties due to factors including a recent order served on it by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland requiring it to withdraw all imported frozen food of animal origin from its stores, is insolvent and unable to pay estimated debts of €36m as they fall due.
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Investigations into bankruptcy cases netted more than €6 million of so-called hidden assets last year, the Irish Times reported. Official assignees in cases run by the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) carried out 185 investigations around bankruptcies, according to the ISI’s 2022 annual report. During bankruptcy proceedings a person’s assets are transferred to the official assignee. The official assignee then sells those assets to cover the bankrupt’s debts.
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Irish tax defaulters paid €7.3 million to settle unpaid debts to the Revenue in the first three months of the year, new figures show, the Irish Times reported. Longford waste business Mulleady’s Ltd heads the list, paying €828,575 in tax, interest and penalties after an audit found it had under-declared income tax and social insurance. Builder Thomas Foley, of St Anne’s Green, Carlow, listed as a company director, made the biggest personal settlement, €809,018 for under declaration of income and capital gains tax.
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An electrical contractor will have some €2.7 million of a €2.9 million debt written-off under a personal insolvency arrangement (PIA) approved by the High Court, the Irish Times reported. The arrangement, approved by Mr Justice Alexander Owens on Monday, includes the near halving of the €470,000 mortgage debt of Thomas Fahy from Cortoon, Claregalway, Co Galway. Approval was sought by barrister Keith Farry, instructed by solicitor Nicola Nevin, on behalf of Nicholas O’Dwyer of Grant Thornton, Mr Fahy’s Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP).
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