The High Court appointed an “interim examiner” last night after being told the company had a reasonable chance of survival despite being €236m in debt.
The company said: “This will relate solely to the Irish business of McInerney.
“The Group’s UK interests, its Spanish division and Hillview Developments, the commercial division, are unaffected.”
McInerney has also applied to the Irish Stock Exchange Limited and London Stock Exchange for a suspension of trading in respect of its shares.
The move will buy McInerney time while it negotiates a restructuring of its debts and new equity.
Oaktree Capital is currently in discussions with the group to make an equity investment of approximately €40m.
The group has a total of 279 employees, 100 of which are based in Ireland, and can engage up to 200 contractors at any one time. In 2003 McInerney had a peak of 750 workers.
McInerney, which started off building homes in the West of Ireland in 1909, now has operations all over the country as well as in the UK and Spain.
The company had been profitable but has been among the hardest hit by the construction downturn in Ireland.