There was a 20% drop in the number of company start ups recorded in the first six months of the year compared to the same time last year.
New figures from credit risk analyst CRIFVision-net suggest the growing cost of living crisis has caused individuals to reconsider starting their own venture.
The data also reveals a 56% increase in the number of companies dissolved compared to the same period in 2021.
Only Leitrim, Laois, Longford, Cavan and Mayo recorded growing numbers in company start-ups, with Offaly, Kerry and Sligo recording the highest year-on-year decrease.
The half-year data shows that out of the entire six-month period for 2022, only January saw an increase in start-ups compared with the same month last year, while the following five months all produced consecutive terms of contraction.
The figures show that the social and personal services sector was the only one to record growth, up 3%.
Decreases were seen in all other industries in the first half of this year, with hospitality down 6%, agriculture and construction both down 13%, manufacturing down 31% and retail down 51%.
"The impact of war in Ukraine, how that has impacted higher energy bills and combined with cost-of-living increases, influenced by the post-pandemic supply chain problems, is firmly translating into the business marketplace," said Christine Cullen, Managing Director of CRIFVision-net.
"The year started off strongly with a rise in the number of new company start-ups in January, but that dipped in February and took a big tumble in March, which may also be due in part to that uncertainty created by the war in Ukraine starting at that period.
"March saw the most dramatic decline when compared with the same month last year in what then continued as a steady period of contraction for the remainder of the period," she added.
