Recently released statistics have revealed that 3653 new businesses were started in Ireland during May 2015, which is a 24% increase on the same month in 2014. There were 79 insolvencies registered during May, which is a 38% drop on the previous year.

These numbers are a sure indicator that the Irish economy is on the way back. Combined with the reduction in the rate of unemployment to 9.9%, down from over 15% at its worst and under 10% for the first time since 2009, the indications are good. Long term unemployment fell back from 7.3% to 5.9% during the last year, which is an incredible reduction by any standard. Unemployment has fallen in Ireland by over 2.2% in the space of one year. Of course these bare statistics do not account for the massive numbers of young Irish people who have been forced to emigrate since the financial collapse of 2008.

Government Minister Richard Bruton commented:
‘There are still many people around the country who are not yet feeling the benefits yet, and there is still a long way to go before we can say we have replaced all the jobs that were lost, before we can attract young emigrants home in large numbers, before we can have jobs available for all the unemployed.’