Almost 2,000 New Companies set up in February

Last month saw 1,980 Irish company start-ups - this is the second highest figure for new companies formed in February since the year 2000.

An average of almost 71 companies were formed daily in February this year - which made it the second best February for company start-ups since the year 2000, when 2,229 were formed.

Professional services remains the most popular industry for Irish start-ups with almost one in five (395) operating in this sector - these companies would typically be associated with Accounting, Admin, Marketing, Engineering, HR, Investigation, Legal Services etc.

The finance and social & personal sectors were the second and third most popular industries for start-ups and accounted for 480 new companies between them. Construction and wholesale & retail round out the top 5 most popular industries with 195 and 174 start-ups respectively.

Approximately 46% of this January's start-ups are based in Dublin with just over another 9% based in Cork. Galway, Meath and Limerick are next on the list and account for 11.5% of new companies between them.

For the year to date 4,439 new companies have been set up in Ireland