Ms Fiona O'Dea:

Before answering the question on statistics, I should point out that there is an EU proposal on insolvency which deals with anti-transactional avoidance measures. It is still at proposal stage and has a long road to travel but it addresses anti-transactional avoidance measures which the Bill is also addressing. Ireland is very much a leader in this space in the EU.

On statistics and what we see as an increase in the rate of insolvency, there is certainly an increase in the number of insolvencies year on year but the figure is still below that of 2019. There are three types of liquidation. The vast majority of liquidations are members' voluntary liquidations, which account for 75% of liquidations. About 23% are creditors' voluntary liquidations and they are insolvent but this is where the directors themselves decide to wind up the company.

Then there are the court liquidations, which are in the low double-digit figures, so they make up the minority.

Certainly, there is an upward trend in insolvency figures. I saw a predictive figure of 600 insolvencies anticipated for this year. I think 800 would have been the figure pre-Covid, so we are not there yet. I imagine that over a longer period of time, the figures will continue to go up.