The latest figures show that Irish courts awarded €44.6m to creditors for unpaid debts by consumers and companies this March - the highest amount recorded since August 2012

The majority of that total (€41m) was against consumers with banks being the main beneficiaries with the courts awarding them almost €23m (56%).

Figures for April 2013 show a large rise in commercial judgments with €19.5m already awarded, this figure is the highest since October 2010.

Other figures for April '13 showed a 16% on company insolvencies between 1st and 24th of the month when compared to the same period in 2012. 114 companies were declared insolvent, 68 of these were liquidated, 43 had a receiver appointed and the remainder went in to examinership.

Dublin accounted for 47% of company insolvencies in April, the most by some distance with Limerick and Wicklow next on the list accounting for a further 9% and 6% of insolvencies respectively.

Start-Ups were up 16% on April 2012 figures with 3,238 companies and businesses being registered.