Dublin tops start-ups league

After Dublin, Cork is the second most popular location for company start-ups, according to the first Bank of Ireland Business Start-up Barometer of 2006.

Dublin is the most popular location for company start-ups, according to the first Bank of Ireland Business Start-up Barometer of 2006.

In Dublin, 1,060 companies have been established so far in 2006, with Cork seeing 237 companies formed.

The overall figure for new business start-ups stands at 3,045 throughout Ireland.

The findings of the barometer highlights that this year’s start-up activity is expected to be extremely high.

Following trends in 2005, the most popular start-up companies were in the real estate and construction sectors, with 805 companies formed.

There were 140 new companies in the management and software consultancy sector, while engineering and architectural activities accounted for 85 of the new companies.

Despite the increasing pressure and competition in the hospitality sector, 69 restaurants and 38 bars have also registered in the first two months of this year.

Commenting on the first start-up barometer of 2006, Dermot Nolan, head of business marketing for Bank of Ireland, told The Evening Echo: “We have made a number of recommendations to the Small Business Forum regarding the nurturing of business start-ups as well as launching a special package to facilitate this sector.

"Daily, we have more than 40 business start-ups opening current accounts with us and this, coupled with the findings of the barometer, suggests that the high rate of start-up activity evident in 2005 will continue in to 2006. The recommendations of the Small Business Forum will be important in shaping the support environment for start-ups and as a consequence, the economy in the long-term.”

The results also show that 26.59% of all directors and company secretaries in Ireland are now female and that one in 12 working adults are currently engaged in entrepreneurial activity.

In other locations, Galway has seen 147 company formations, while Limerick and Kildare also rated highly in the analysis with 111 and 74 companies established in both counties this year.