Business

Building watchdog claims State facing ‘national emergency’ over regulation

Seen & Heard: Regulator’s warning; Michael O’Leary’s big payday; and the Rotunda’s Clerys Quarter move

The National Building Control and Market Surveillance Office has said its lack of resources has created an untenable situation. File Photograph: Bloomberg

Sun May 21 2023 - 10:32

Ireland’s building regulator has claimed that the country faces a “national emergency” of construction regulation, repeatedly warning it faces severe staff shortages exacerbated by the mica crisis and the London Grenfell Tower disaster, the Sunday Business Post reports.

The National Building Control and Market Surveillance Office (NBCO), which co-ordinates the oversight of construction in Ireland, has privately told bosses it has been “understaffed since its inception” and said its lack of resources has created a situation that “is not sustainable”.

The regulator has also warned of increasing political pressure from the Department of Housing after the mica crisis and the publication of a report on the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people in London in 2017 and led to a UK-wide review of building regulations.

Jo’Burger founder Macken hits out at ex-partner’s ‘Frankenstein’ creation Crackbrgr

Restaurateur Joe Macken has accused his former business partner of trying to “Frankenstein” the creative concepts behind Jo’Burger and Crackbird, according to a report in the Sunday Business Post. Macken’s much-praised restaurants were a feature of Dublin in the 2010s until they went into sudden liquidation in 2018.

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The group’s outlets Jo’Burger, Crackbird, Skinflint, Bar Giuseppe and Hey Donna had prime locations including Rathmines, Castle Market in the city centre, Smithfield, Temple Bar, South William Street and Dame Street. Macken, who founded the Jo’Burger group in 2007, told the Business Post that he was “really surprised” to hear that John Roberts, a former director, had opened up a new restaurant called Crackbrgr.

ChatGPT didn’t just pass Leaving Cert higher English, it got 77%

A recipe for success? ChatGPT has passed a Higher Level English Leaving Certificate exam with flying colours, notes a report in the Sunday Times. The newspaper fed questions from both 2022 papers into the online program before the responses — generated in a matter of seconds — were marked by a current official Leaving Cert examiner. Across both papers, ChatGPT achieved an overall mark of 77 per cent, or what is now termed an H3 — a B2 under the old system.

Rotunda eyes new Clerys Quarter for its outpatients

Dublin’s new Clerys Quarter development is to house a brand new outpatients department for the Rotunda maternity hospital, according to the Sunday Independent. The plan will see the world’s oldest maternity hospital move part of its operation into the floors above the city’s newest trendy shopping destination. The Clerys Quarter development is due to open shortly with H & and designer clothing store Flannels as the main retail tenants and it will also contain a rooftop bar and restaurant.

Now, the Health Service Executive has applied for planning permission for a change of use of 3,754sq m of office space at the five-storey Earl Building, part of the Clerys complex that fronts on to North Earl Street.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary inches closer to €100m bumper bonus payout

A London broker is forecasting that Ryanair’s share price will soar to €22 next year — which would deliver chief executive Michael O’Leary a €100 million payday, according to a report in the Sunday Independent. Mr O’Leary has 10 million share options that he can cash in at €11.12 if Ryanair’s profit after tax reaches €2 billion in any year up to 2024, or its share price exceeds €21 for a period of 28 days between April 1st, 2021 and March 31st, 2024.

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