Paddy Cosgrave wins tenancy battle over south Dublin house

Paddy Cosgrave has won a battle with his landlord, who tried to have the Web Summit founder removed from a South Dublin house he rents over nine alleged breaches of his tenancy agreement.

The Sunday Times reports that the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) has ruled against Aidan Hall, who owns the property in Palmerstown Park, Dartry, near Rathmines in Dublin 6, which Mr Cosgrave rents for €3,700 a month.

Among other things, Mr Hall had alleged that Mr Cosgrave breached his tenancy agreement by accommodating more people than permitted in the house, which he discovered from media reports about the businessman. Mr Cosgrave’s wife, Faye Dinsmore, told The Irish Times in 2019 that the couple shared the house with five other people.

But the RTB found that Mr Hall had failed to prove that the house was being occupied by more people than Mr Cosgrave and his family. It ultimately ruled that the notice of termination served on Mr Cosgrave was “invalid”.

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Doubts over €2bn data centre investments

Also in The Sunday Times, tech giants Amazon and Microsoft have put €2 billion of data centre investments under review.

Citing “an industry source”, the paper reports that Microsoft is on the hunt for potential alternative venues for two data centres for which it has received planning permission at Grange Castle Business Park in Co Dublin. Meanwhile, Amazon, which was building a data centre in Clonee, Co Meath, has decided to build it near London instead.

Both companies began looking for alternatives after the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities ruled out a moratorium on the building of new centres last November but said it reserved the right to put one in place in the future if it deems it a necessary move to “protect security of supply”.

Revenue investigates decline in taxes paid by property funds

The Revenue Commissioners have opened an investigation into a “dramatic decline” in taxes paid by Irish Real Estate Funds (Irefs), the Business Post reports, after new data showed that the effective tax rate the funds pay dropped dramatically from 17.9 per cent in 2020 to just 5.9 per cent last year.

Having indicated that some Irefs had “engaged in aggressive behaviour to avoid tax”, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe increased the tax paid by institutional investors by 171 per cent in Budget 2020.

The Revenue is now reviewing the 2021 figures to “locate the cause of the reduction”, a spokesperson told the paper. The Department of Finance, meanwhile, said it awaits an update from the Revenue Commissioners on its own inquiries into the matter.

Troubled Altada’s €40m profit forecast

Also in The Business Post, Altada told investors last year that it was on track to make annual profits of more than €40 million by 2024, documents seen by the paper indicate.

The Cork-based artificial intelligence start-up has run into financial difficulties of late, recently furloughing staff and is working to secure bridging finance to bring them back. It is also being sued by US firm OpticsML, which claims the Irish company accessed its trade secrets. Altada denies the allegations.

But The Business Post reports Altada told prospective investors last year in advance of a Series A funding round that the start-up would begin generative very strong profits in 2022 with double digit profit growth expected by 2024.

Hibergene’s rebel shareholders

Troubled Irish medical diagnostics company Hibergene has accused a group of rebel shareholders of damaging its value and weakening the company’s negotiating position in talks with prospective partners, The Sunday Independent reports.

Last month, a group of shareholders held an extraordinary general meeting at which the company’s performance and strategy were subject to stinging criticism. But the company has refused to recognise the meeting as legitimate and, in an update to shareholders, said the debacle had a “damaging effect” on ongoing talks with prospective strategic partners.

The discussions are aimed at finding a partner to provide working capital for the operation of the company or to potentially “deliver an exit” for shareholders, the paper reports.