Retail businesses accounted for almost one in four Irish corporate insolvencies in the first half of the year, as the volume of company failures in the sector jumped by 35 per cent, PwC said today.
The Big Four accountancy firm said 232 companies went to the wall in the second quarter of the year. That brought the total number of insolvencies in the first six months of 2026 to 444, broadly in line with 436 over the same period in 2025.
Overall, PwC said the insolvency rate in Ireland remains “remarkably steady” at roughly 27 for every 10,000 businesses, or around 900 each year.
This is “far below” the 21-year long-term average of 49 for every 10,000 companies, according to the firm’s latest insolvency report.
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Ken Tyrrell, business recovery partner at PwC Ireland, said the data indicates “sustained resilience” within the Republic’s business population.
“However, there are areas of concern,” Tyrrell said.
On a sectoral basis, retail has come under pressure in the first half of the year.
Recently, the Central Bank and the Economic and Social Research Institute separately said they expect consumers to cut back on spending this year amid soaring energy prices arising from the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Retail businesses also took a hit from the fuel protests that took place across the Republic in early April, which forced many to close until gardaí broke up the blockades after a week.
Some 109 insolvencies were recorded in the retail sector in the first half of 2026, up 35 per cent on the same period last year and accounting for almost one in every four company failures, PwC said.
According to the most recent Central Statistics Office figures, retail sales volumes slid by 0.5 per cent in the 12 months to the end of April.
Within the various retail subsectors, furniture and lighting sales volumes tumbled by more than 10 per cent, while clothing and footwear sales dropped 7.2 per cent.
Businesses in general “continue to face elevated input costs across energy, transport and wages, with renewed increases in global energy prices feeding through to operating expenses,” Tyrrell said.
“Inflation, while moderating from peak levels, is still putting pressure on both margins and consumer spending, limiting the ability of firms to pass on higher costs. As a result, many businesses, particularly SMEs, are seeing ongoing pressure on margins, leaving them more vulnerable to cash flow challenges.”
Meanwhile, the rescue processes available to struggling businesses remain underutilised, PwC said.
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There were just 11 examinerships and 16 cases of businesses being saved through the small company administrative rescue process (Scarp) in the first half of the year, according to the data.
Examinership numbers declined slightly compared with the first half of 2025. However, the Scarp process continues to be underused amid what PwC described as “ongoing debate within the insolvency sector” about its effectiveness as a tool for saving small and medium enterprises.
Scarp was introduced in 2021 and was designed to be a more cost-effective alternative to the High Court examinership process, aimed at small and medium-sized companies.
However, the number of applications under the scheme slid by almost a quarter in 2025, and the accountancy sector has called for reforms to strengthen it and make it more attractive to potential applicants.
