Number and value of Irish debt judgments falls sharply

There were 3,031 debt judgments recorded in 2016 with a total value of €277.6 million, compared to 4,479 in 2015 with a total value of €567.8 million.

The decline has been attributed to new insolvency legislation and the cleaning up of bank loan books.

The largest judgment against an individual last year was a €9.2 million judgment obtained by Danske Bank against property developer Tommy Finnerty. The largest judgment against a company was €6.3 million against Connotes Ltd, run by hotelier Sean McElvaney.