Almost 1,000 jobs ‘saved’ by examinership process last year

Some 957 jobs were saved through the examinership mechanism in 2017, with 22 companies successfully emerging from the process, a review by accounting firm Baker Tilly Hughes Blake has found.

Examinership – under which struggling companies seek legal protection from creditors while a court-appointed examiner searches for new investors – allowed the State to save more than €3.8 million in averted claims for wage arrears,

holiday pay, minimum notice and statutory redundancy payments, Baker Tilly Hughes Blake said.

The number of jobs saved through examinership was up 166 per cent on 2016, it said.

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High-profile companies

A number of high-profile companies used the process as a corporate recovery mechanism last year, including the Golden Pages, the Regency (now rebranded as The Bonnington Hotel Dublin) and Galway companies controlled by developer Gerry Barrett, including the G hotel, the Meyrick and the Eye Cinema.

Dessie Morrow, director of corporate recovery for Baker Tilly Hughes Blake, said legacy debt issues were still affecting many companies.

“Many companies who consider examinership face significant barriers in accessing working capital which can lead to disgruntled creditors and an inability to pay short term debts as they fall due,” he said.

“The trends we’re seeing in the examinership process shows that SMEs are the most impacted from the legacy of the recession in Ireland.”