Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 February 2023
184. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount of funding allocated to restructuring options or rescue processes for businesses in 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5384/23]
View answerTaking into account the limited financial resources available to the State, and in line with the priorities established under our national enterprise policy including the recent White Paper on Enterprise, the financial assistance made available by Government encourages enterprises, especially in the internationally traded sectors, to grow by building their competitiveness, resilience and sustainability.
In the Companies Act 2014 as amended, Ireland has a modern legislative framework that offers a range of restructuring options that can be considered by companies to ensure orderly and timely debt restructuring.
The main corporate recovery process for companies in Ireland is the long-standing and internationally recognised examinership framework. This court-supervised process is available to insolvent companies that have a reasonable prospect of survival. The court places the company under its protection for a period of up to 100 days to enable an insolvency practitioner put in place proposals for a scheme which sets out the blueprint for the company’s pathway out of debt and its survival.
The 2014 Act also provides for a Scheme of Arrangement which is a process that can be used by a company in financial difficulty to reach a binding agreement with its creditors to pay back all, or part, of its debts over an agreed timeline. Where resolutions approving the scheme are passed at the meetings of shareholders and creditors, the company must apply to the High Court for the scheme to be sanctioned.
Company law is dynamic and the State's corporate rescue toolkit has been expanded in recent times with the introduction of the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process for small and micro companies. This process makes rescue and restructuring quicker, more accessible and affordable to fundamentally viable companies experiencing temporary difficulties. The availability of the process as a means to restructure can also encourage creditors to engage constructively with companies in distress further diminishing the necessity to enter into the process.
The 2014 Act has also been amended by the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Covid 19) Act 2020 to provide a breathing space to companies facing financial difficulties in a difficult trading environment by addressing temporary operational issues and alleviating pressure on company liquidity.
