There remains a ‘lack of clarity and accessibility’ in relation to information about liquidations
The agency says increased reporting is needed on trends around incorporations, restructurings and strike-offs, to make better quality information available to businesses and investors.
In its latest report, ‘Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge 2024’, the agency chaired by Dr Frances Ruane makes a formal recommendation that the Department of Enterprise produce a detailed annual time series that looks at trends in incorporations, restructurings and liquidations by sector.
The NCPC recommended that action be taken to address legal costs in Ireland
The report says there has been an increased level of discussion about corporate insolvencies over the last few months, particularly as the Revenue’s debt warehousing deadline passed in May.
However there was a “lack of clarity and accessibility” in relation to much of the data about liquidations.
“A number of private companies utilise data which is ultimately sourced from the Companies Registration Office in order to report on trends in relation to insolvency.
“However, there is a lack of clear transparency as to the methods and data cleaning which is applied to these figures, as well as the comparability between different reports,” the NCPC says.
The agency’s annual report makes 20 recommendations to Government, addressing immediate competitiveness issues and more long-term challenges to productivity.
The National Competitiveness & Productivity Council says it brought forward publication of this year’s report with a view to increasing the focus on medium and long-term issues in policy discussions that take place in advance of the Budget in October.
The cost of conveyancing in Ireland is significantly higher than in other countries
“I am delighted that the Taoiseach will be convening a round-table discussion on competitiveness this September, which will give us an opportunity to engage directly with ministers on some of the key themes and priorities identified by the council in this year’s Challenge report,” Dr Ruane said.
The NCPC says Irish businesses continue to face long-standing challenges that need to be addressed urgently.
Among the other recommendations is that the Government take action to address legal costs in Ireland, both in financial terms and length of time.
The NCPC says a specialist profession of conveyancing should be introduced and implemented, “in order to drive competition and efficiencies in the provision of conveyancing services”.
Previous studies have found that the cost of conveyancing in Ireland is significantly higher than in other countries with similar legal systems.
The president of the Law Society has said that delays in buying and selling property are costly and frustrating for consumers, and making the housing crisis worse.
The society has called for reform of Ireland’s overly complex conveyancing system to make it more efficient and transparent, and has pointed out that, at present, there can be up to 15 parties involved in a transaction to buy and sell a house.
