Ireland's company start-up numbers soar to 15-year high

Sectors such as agriculture, IT, and construction saw the largest increases

Dublin accounted for 40% of start-up formations in 2025 while Cork was in second place at just under 10%.

There was an 11% increase in start-up formations recorded in 2025 reaching 26,500 — the highest level in 15 years — with sectors such as agriculture, IT, and construction seeing the largest increases, new data from CRIFVision-Net shows.

In 2024, there were 23,384 start-up formations which at the time was a record high.