New Start-up Numbers in Ireland remarkably resilient in 2020

New Irish Companies

By Caitlyn Buchanan, 12th October 2020

Ireland is showing remarkable entrepreneurial drive despite Covid-19 threatening an economic recession. Our findings show that new Irish companies registrations in 2020 are now on par with Quarter 3 of 2019.

The new start-up numbers in Q3 have proven to be remarkably resilient given that new registrations had dropped by nearly 40% amid the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020. In the first half of March 2020, there were 1093 new companies registered compared to 666 companies registered in the second half of the month.

Q3 New Company Registrations

  2019 2020
July 1,763 1,770
Aug 1,909 1,863
Sept 1,785 1,844

A surge of new company registrations last month has resulted in 59 more registrations in September 2019. Furthermore, we believe these numbers are conservative given the current backlog of company filings in the Companies Registration Office (CRO).

The CRO is the government body responsible for processing new company incorporations and they have been operating at a reduced capacity since Covid-19 restrictions were first announced 6 months ago. With many of their staff working remotely and the new formation requests higher than this time last year, the CRO has been unable to process registrations within their Service Level Agreement of 5 working days. On average the lead time to process new Irish companies is now between 8-10 workings days. Naturally, the processing of other company filings has been delayed, placing additional pressure on professional intermediaries.

The CRO has attempted to ease the pressure on Irish registered companies and announced a further amnesty on annual return filings for existing Irish businesses. It was originally announced in March that all annual returns due to be filed by any company between 18th March and 30th June 2020 would be deemed to have been filed on time if all elements of the annual return were completed and filed by 30th June. Following a review of the situation, the Registrar decided to extend this arrangement until the end of October, provided that all elements of the annual return are completed and filed by 31st October 2020. This is some much-needed good news for Irish companies because filing late could result in substantial penalty fees and loss of audit exemption for the following two years.

Andrew Lambe, Commercial Director of Company Bureau commented, “We are delighted to see the number of new company registrations bounce back so strongly in Q3 2020. It has definitely surpassed expectations and its extremely encouraging to see this many start-ups at what is a difficult time for so many. It speaks volumes of the resourcefulness and resilience of people in Ireland.”

If you would like to register a new Irish company please complete our online order form. Alternatively, if you would like more information on the requirements please contact us on 01 6461625 or complete our contact form. A member of the Company Bureau team will contact you within 24hrs.

 

Disclaimer This article is for guidance purposes only. It does not constitute legal or professional advice. No liability is accepted by Company Bureau for any action taken or not taken in reliance on the information set out in this article. Professional or legal advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from any action as a result of this article. Any and all information is subject to change.