The positive news in relation to company start-ups in Ireland continued last month with 1,577 being recorded - 7% up on February 2014 (1,472). A further 1,538 start-ups were recorded this January making it the first time since 2007 that over 1,500 start-ups have been formed in both January and February of the same year.

Professional services continues to be the most popular industry sector for start-ups accounting for almost a quarter of these. The agriculture sector saw a 56% rise in start-ups last month compared to February 2014 (81 v 52) while the construction sector also showed an increase in start-ups this February compared to last (145 v 92).

96 Irish companies were declared insolvent last month - a third of these were located in Dublin with a further 16% registered in Cork.

The wholesale & retail sector was worst affected, accounting for 18 insolvencies though this is down 33% on February 2014. Six insolvencies affected the manufacturing sector - a drop of 63% on last February (16). Two industries that were negatively impacted by the recession continued to show signs of strengthening with insolvencies affecting construction and real estate down 30% and 31% respectively.