Insolvency levels remain consistent over the past three years – says PwC’s latest Insolvency Barometer

PwC’s latest Insolvency Barometer, analysing insolvencies for the Republic of Ireland, published today, shows that insolvency levels remain consistent over the past three years.

There were 848 insolvencies recorded in 2025, a slight decrease from 868 in 2024, but still higher than the 736 insolvencies in 2023. PwC’s analysis reveals an average of 204 insolvencies each quarter, since the start of 2023. These steady figures highlight that, despite some quarterly fluctuations, insolvency levels remain consistent over the past three years. This is as a result of Ireland’s recent robust economic performance and demonstrates the resilience of Irish businesses to navigate the many current macro-economic challenges.

The PwC Insolvency Barometer provides fresh insight on insolvency levels in Ireland by calculating the insolvency rate per 10,000 companies to analyse insolvency levels. Since 2021, this has become an industry standard and an accurate metric to measure insolvency levels, comparing sectors and prior periods, and has become widely used in the Irish insolvency market.

PwC’s analysis shows that the insolvency rate for 2025 is 27 per 10,000 companies (848 insolvencies over the past year). This is far below the 21-year average of 49 per 10,000 businesses which would equate to approximately 1,500 insolvencies per annum and is even lower than the previous peak of 109 per 10,000 businesses recorded in 2012, which would equate to over 3,400 insolvencies per annum.

Increasing unemployment rate corresponds to increasing levels of insolvency

PwC’s analysis reveals that there is historically an almost perfect statistical correlation between the Irish unemployment rate and the Irish insolvency rate per 10,000 companies. The analysis demonstrates that a 1% increase in the unemployment rate in Ireland correlates to a corresponding increase in the insolvency rate. Statistically this means for every sustained 1% increase in the unemployment rate, PwC expects to see an additional 245 insolvencies. During 2025 the Irish unemployment rate increased from 4% in January to 4.9% in November and if this trend persists during 2026, based on PwC’s statistical analysis, PwC expects to see an increase in insolvency levels during the coming years.

Court-appointed liquidations nearly double in 2025

Court-appointed liquidations surged to 113 in 2025, up from 63 in 2024, an increase of nearly 80%. Revenue Commissioners were behind three out of every five petitions, reflecting their increased recovery efforts following the end of the debt warehousing scheme and a growing reliance on court enforcement.

Retail insolvencies drop by 25% in 2025 compared to 2024

Retail still tops all sectors for insolvencies, with 151 cases in 2025. However, this marks a 25% decrease from 201 cases recorded in 2024. The downward trend continued throughout 2025, averaging 38 cases per quarter compared to 50 in 2024. This sustained decline may reflect improved trading conditions, stronger consumer sentiment along with possible successful restructuring efforts within the sector. While retail is higher in absolute numbers, its insolvency rate stands at 23 per 10,000 businesses for 2025, which is below the overall insolvency rate of 27 per 10,000.

Hospitality insolvencies are 8% lower in 2025 compared to 2024

The hospitality industry recorded 141 insolvencies in 2025, slightly below the 154 insolvencies in 2024. The sector has an insolvency rate of 68 per 10,000 businesses for the year, well above the overall average of 27 per 10,000 businesses. The final quarter of 2025 saw just 30 cases, continuing the downward trend since the start of 2025, from 43 in Q1, 38 in Q2 and 30 in Q3. Notably, only six of the 141 cases involved accommodation businesses, highlighting resilience in that segment, while food and beverage activities continue to account for the vast majority of failures. However, persistent cost and inflation pressures mean the hospitality industry remains under close watch heading into 2026.

Average lifespan of companies entering insolvency in 2025 was 12 years

The average lifespan of companies declaring insolvency in 2025 was just under 12 years. The shortest-lived company was less than a year old, while the longest lifespan was almost 92 years.

SCARP process failing to deliver

A continued low uptake of SCARP indicates that the process is failing to meet its objectives. There were only 23 SCARP processes commenced in 2025, down from 30 in 2024 and 33 in 2023, highlighting a decline from an already low baseline. Since its introduction in 2021, just 108 SCARPs have been initiated. By contrast, Personal Insolvency Arrangements (“PIAs”), introduced in 2012 to assist individuals with debt levels of approximately €3 million saw substantial early adoption with approximately 2,500 recorded in the first four years, and now average between 1,100 and 1,300 cases per year, highlighting the differential in the use of PIAs compared to SCARPs by SMEs.

Marked increase in Examinership appointments

While the use of SCARPs by SMEs has declined, 2025 saw a marked increase in Examinership activity, with 23 examinerships commenced. That is more than double the 11 appointments recorded in 2024 and higher than the 18 in 2023. Examinership typically provides a greater level of court protection while a rescue plan is formulated and, in appropriate cases, can be a stronger alternative to the SCARP process. Examinership is a tried and tested restructuring process that has been in existence since 1990 with numerous improvements made to it over that period.

Lender enforcement slightly higher; overall remains steady in 2025

Receivership appointments rose to 113 in 2025, up 12% from 101 in 2024. This modest increase was largely driven by a small number of active lenders, while most loan servicers and lenders have maintained a steady approach throughout the year. The stable overall trend suggests that borrower performance and engagement, combined with lender caution amid evolving market conditions, has tempered the appetite for legal enforcement.

Drop in voluntary liquidations

Creditor Voluntary Liquidations (“CVLs”) fell to 576 in 2025, down 13% from 663 in 2024, and only slightly above the 532 recorded in 2023. Nearly all these companies are SMEs, and is a good barometer that trading conditions remain favourable.

Geographic concentration of insolvencies remain focused in Dublin, Cork and Galway

Dublin, Cork, and Galway accounted for 70% of all insolvencies recorded in 2025, with Dublin alone responsible for more than half (55%). This concentration underscores the dominance of city centres in business activity, and, by extension, insolvency risk.

Ken Tyrrell, Business Recovery Partner, PwC Ireland, commented: “Despite geopolitical instability, inflation, interest rate variability and tariff changes in recent years, the Irish economy has continued to perform well, and is reflected in the current low and stable levels of corporate insolvencies. In particular, despite ongoing high costs, retail and hospitality continue to show reduced levels of insolvencies.

“However, our analysis also shows that if Irish unemployment were to continue to increase, we will also likely see increasing insolvencies in the future. We cannot ignore ongoing global geopolitical risks and prevailing economic uncertainties and we will be closely monitoring insolvency levels as 2026 unfolds. Businesses should focus on their core strategies and cost bases while actively managing their working capital and cash positions to ensure that they are financially sustainable into the future.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Over 4,500 businesses saved as a result of Government COVID supports

In PwC’s inaugural report, ‘Act Now: From Recovery to Growth’ published in February 2022, it was estimated that over 4,500 businesses were saved from failure primarily as a result of the Government’s COVID supports, with a number of these businesses essentially being put on ‘life-support’.

Why we use a per 10,000 business measure - Insolvency Rate

PwC’s analysis is based on a per 10,000 measure. It is also widely used when comparing the birth or death rates across different regions or countries. It is a simple yet effective statistic for comparison purposes between different periods, industries, towns, counties or countries with different population sizes. It provides meaningful context to the numbers rather than simply looking at them in absolute terms.

SCARP stands for Small Company Administration Rescue Process. The small company rescue process (“SCARP”) was enacted by the Government to provide an alternative restructuring tool for businesses commencing in December 2021.

Creating a cash-conscious culture is critical to ensure that organisations can improve and accelerate their resilience to mitigate the impacts and flourish in the future. To achieve this, everyone in the organisation needs to be focused on cash. This is a collective responsibility from the boardroom and across the business - not just the Finance team or Treasury to make decisions impacting cash.

Four ways to optimise a company’s cash culture

1. Make cash the business of everyone in the organisation
2. Cash can mean different things to different people, so make cash relevant to everyone
3. Forecasting cash and appropriately granular scenario planning
4. Understanding and sharing your minimum cash thresholds