CRO Statistics – Quarter 1 2026
Commencing with Quarter 1 2026, the CRO will publish quarterly statistics about some of the major events in the life cycle of a company. These will include incorporations, receiverships, liquidation and strike offs. In the first quarterly report, the CRO will also report on the most frequently filed submission of the previous year.
The CRO is working with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to provide sectoral data in line with the recommendations in the 2024 National Competitiveness and Productivity Council report.
Key information on companies is also available on the CRO Open Data Portal, which provides easy access to key company data, including Company Records and Financial Statements.
A company is a legal form of business organisation. It is a separate legal entity and, therefore, is distinct from those who run it. The incorporation of a company is the process of legally establishing a company. It should be noted that these figures included in this report relate to companies only, and not individual premises, e.g. a company with 10 shops/branches in different locations is one company.
Not all businesses in Ireland are incorporated as companies. Only businesses which are incorporated as companies are included in these statistics. There are a number of different company types For more information on the different types of companies, please see Company Types – CRO.
When a company is experiencing financial difficulty there are a number of rescue processes available to them such as Examinership and the Small Companies Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP). Companies may also have Receivers appointed which ultimately may result in a restructure.
Companies can enter Liquidation when they are solvent or insolvent.
Companies may be struck off the register by two means, Voluntary Strike-Off and Involuntary Strike-Off.
The figures below show the number of newly incorporated companies on a quarterly basis.
The first quarter of 2026 showed a record number of incorporations in one quarter, showing a 15% increase on quarter one of 2025.
Incorporations by Company Type
| Company Type | 2025 Q1 | 2026 Q1 | 2025 Q2 | 2026 Q2 | 2025 Q3 | 2026 Q3 | 2025 Q4 | 2026 Q4 |
| CLG – Company Limited by Guarantee | 178 | 229 | 228 | – | 240 | – | 161 | – |
| CLG – Company Limited by Guarantee (licenced company) | 3 | 3 | 7 | – | 3 | – | 8 | – |
| DAC – Designated Activity Company (limited by guarantee) | 1 | 1 | 2 | – | 3 | – | 2 | – |
| DAC – Designated Activity Company (limited by shares) | 215 | 217 | 228 | – | 249 | – | 237 | – |
| External company | 47 | 67 | 56 | – | 44 | – | 36 | – |
| IC – Investment Company – Part 24 Companies Act 2014 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – |
| LTD – Private Company Limited by Shares | 5,996 | 6,920 | 6,274 | – | 6,409 | – | 5,685 | – |
| PLC – Public Limited Company | 4 | 3 | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – |
| Societas Europaea – Transfer into State | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| ULC – Private Unlimited Company | 44 | 41 | 46 | – | 41 | – | 80 | – |
This series of bar charts show the figures for Examinership, Small Companies Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP), and Receiverships.
The figures below provide a breakdown of the notifications of liquidations, that took effect during the time period, and have been received and registered by the CRO.
Please Note: The figures reported below may increase in the future, i.e. if a Liquidation had an effective date during Q1, but the CRO was only notified during Q4, the Q1 figure would be retroactively increased.
The Companies Registration Office (CRO) processes numerous types of submission during the life cycle of a company. The table below outlines the number of submissions received for the most frequently filed submissions:
- B1: Annual Return
- B2: Change of registered office
- B10: Change of director and/or secretary, or in their particulars
- B73: Nomination of a new annual return date
