Extra €100 electricity charge, Brendan Mullin and €2m judgement, and Love Island’s ratings

Families could pay an extra €100 on their electricity bills from October to cover the cost of network bottlenecks, it has emerged. Barry O’Halloran explains the background to the latest setback on energy costs for hard-pressed householders.

A London property investment company has registered matching €2 million judgments against former Irish rugby international Brendan Mullin and his one-time business partner Stephane Fund in relation to loans used to fund the purchase of luxury apartments in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Ian Curran reports.

The US Congress has passed a bill to provide $52 billion to the tech industry to manufacture semiconductors in the country. Our columnist Karlin Lillington questions this generous handout to an industry with some of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world. She also looks at the potential implications for Ireland, where Intel has made a huge investment in high-end chip making facilities.

The Irish unit of UK insurer Royal London is “monitoring” for any divergence between EU and UK regulations as a result of Brexit that may affect its business model here. Peter Flanagan has the details.

Activity in the Irish services economy expanded at a faster pace in July compared to the month before with companies seeing a “further sharp rise” in new business, according to the latest purchasing managers’ index for the sector from AIB. Laura Slattery reports.

In his weekly column, Chris Horn outlines the technology innovations that could be deployed in the ongoing battle globally against devastating wildfires.

Love Island was a TV ratings and commercial hit for Irish broadcaster Virgin Media this year. With ITV bringing back Big Brother and promising more Love Island series, reality TV shows are poised to become a year-round revenue-boosting affair, not just an eight-week summer fling, writes Cantillon.

In tech review, Ciara O’Brien gives the thumbs up to Apple’s new Macbook Air laptop, costing €1,879.

Our New Innovator this week is Deborah Schull, who has created an Irish road trip app called Cultural Roadmapp that offers a twist to the Wild Atlantic Way for curious tourists. Olive Keogh tells the story.

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