There has been a sharp rise in the number of companies going into voluntary liquidation in the first half of the year.
More than 300 companies have been wound up, a 76% increase on last year's figures. Most of the company failures were in the construction and engineering sector.
These figures show what kind of impact a slowing economy is having on companies - and the increase has been dramatic.
The same number of company failures have been reported in the first six months of this year as for the whole of 2007. 312 companies went into voluntary liquidation, 130 of which were in the construction and engineering sector.
According to FGS, which compiled the figures, the failures were among small developers and sub-contractors. Almost half of the companies that failed were in Dublin.
There was also a high level of failures in the hospitality sector such as pubs, restaurants and suppliers to the industry with 42 companies collapsing.
Transport and haulage providers accounted for 12 failures, with a significant increase in fuel costs being cited as the primary reason.
