The Irish High Court has heard petitions to have 19 Irish companies wound-up this year, this represents a drop of just over 60% on the same period in 2012.

In these cases an individual or a company (most likely a creditor of the company) sends a petition to the High Court to have a company wound-up in order to recover monies owed to them.

In order to do this the creditor must be able to prove that they are owed at least €1,269.74 (1,000 in old Irish punts).

The courts have liquidated 11 of the 19 companies that had petitions against them and a further three have subsequently been liquidated. In the same period in 2012, petitions to have 49 Irish companies were heard by the courts who went on to liquidate 15 of them.

According to their latest filed accounts, the 11 companies that have been wound up by the High Court this year owe their short term creditors over €20m approx.