Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in and sharing the information with us. It is an issue we have discussed. Even when we are not directly discussing it, it comes up a lot, so the presentation has been useful.

I have a couple of questions and if follow-up is needed, we can engage again afterwards. The first relates to the number of businesses that are failing. Deloitte insolvency and restructuring statistics show there were 663 corporate insolvencies in 2023, up 25% on 2022. Some of that might be Covid-related, and I suspect it is, but we can tease that out. In addition, 2023 saw a 50% rise in SCARP notifications. PwC and Deloitte both forecast more businesses will fail in 2024 than in any year since 2016. In the first quarter of 2024, 214 firms became insolvent, an increase of nearly 50%.

Do the Department and Revenue Commissioners have concerns about this increasing trend? If so, what can be done? We are here to discuss what has been done to date but what more could be done to help viable but vulnerable businesses, while separating them from businesses that cannot remain a going concern? At both extremes, it is easy to see which business is viable and which is not but there is a grey area. I use the expression "viable but vulnerable" but I would be caught if someone asked for a definition of that, because it is quite individual. What concerns do the witnesses have? What more could be done, separate from what is being done already?