There was a sharp rise in insolvencies in the first half of this year when compared to the same period of 2022, according to analysis by PwC.
Its latest Insolvency Barometer shows there were 321 business failures in the six month period - up 54% on the first half of 2022.
The second quarter saw a slightly larger increase, with insolvencies up 55% when compared to the same three months of last year.
It means that business failure rates were 79% higher in the year to the end of June, though PwC says the rate remains low overall.
The annual failure rate stands at 25 companies per 10,000, compared to 36 per 10,000 in 2019.
"In the face of general market disruption, geopolitical change and high profile challenges across different industries, businesses are feeling the effects of an uncertain market with restructuring activity rising and risk of shocks remaining in the market," said Ken Tyrrell, business recovery partner at PwC Ireland.
"Creating a cash-conscious culture is critical to ensure organisations can improve and accelerate their resilience to mitigate the impacts and flourish in the future."
The arts, entertainment and recreation sector saw the highest insolvency rate, with three times the national average failure rate.
Health and hospitality also saw a higher-than-average rate of failure in the year.
According to the PwC report, more than 6,000 companies that availed of Revenue's Debt Warehousing Scheme still owe €1.9 billion to the tax authority.
They will need to agree a phased repayment plan by May 2024.
Recently Revenue said that 510 companies that had been eligable for the scheme had been liquidated in recent years, with €55m worth of tax debt outstanding.
PwC has forecast that this figure will increase as companies approach next year's repayment deadline.
Meanwhile, the report shows that the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process - introduced at the start of last year to help struggling firms to restructure - had so far seen a low uptake, with just 38 SCARP appointments since its inception.
However it said three quarters of those processes had been successful, and take-up of the scheme may increase in the coming year.
