Company start-ups rose 11% (1,518) in July 2014 when compared to the same month last year (1,371) - this is an average of 49 new companies being formed daily last month.

Dublin was home to 51% of the new company start-ups, followed by Cork (8%) and Limerick (4%).

The professional services sector was the most popular industry for start-ups and accounted for 22% of new companies. It was followed by wholesale & retail (10%) and construction (9%).

This was the first time construction was in the top 3 most popular industries for start-ups since March 2010 and the sector also recorded a 47% drop in insolvencies compared to July 2013.

There were positive signs for other industries that struggled during the recession with drops in insolvencies of 86% and 29% for the motor and hospitality sectors respectively.

In total, 166 company insolvencies were recorded last month with 46% of them being based in Dublin, a further 13% were in Cork and 6% in Galway.