Facebook parent Meta was in the news for all the wrong reasons as it announced the loss of 490 jobs at its Irish operations – the largest in a series of redundancies at the business in recent months – which is seen as significant in Government circles. Ciara O’Brien and Cormac McQuinn report while Ciara also looks at the background to the latest job losses.
Separately, the social media giant was on the wrong end of a ruling in the European Union’s second highest court as it tried to limit the European Commission’s access to documents in an ongoing investigation over alleged anticompetitive practices in the online classified advertising sector. Naomi O’Leary was on hand for the judgment.
It was not the only company warning of job losses, with departing Ulster Bank announcing the departure of a further 813 staff in the coming months as it continues to wind down its business here. Joe Brennan reports.
But, overall, Ireland’s employment picture is good, according to the CSO’s latest Labour Force Survey. Eoin Burke-Kennedy writes that the number of people at work in the State has hit a new high of 2.6 million, driven by growth in the number of women working.
Brexit-related costs and paperwork led to a 3.5 per cent fall in food sales last year at Marks & Spencer’s Irish stores, the company said yesterday but “robust” demand for its clothing and homewares sees jump 15.1 per cent overall in Ireland, writes Ian Curran.
Ian also reports that while mobile phone group Vodafone may be facing challenging winds in several of its markets, it is committing to invest a further €500 million upgrading its Irish network over the next five years.
Laura Slattery has the line-up for Graham Norton’s LOL: Last One Laughing, which is being shot with an Irish cast in Dublin and will air next year on Amazon Prime Video.
But she also reports that Netflix has turned its attention to Ireland as it clamps down on password sharing which the streamer blames for sluggish recent growth of new customers on its service.
Ryanair is enjoying a good run in Europe’s courts with a second victory yesterday against European Commission approved bailouts during the Covid pandemic that, it argued, created an uneven playing pitch in the European aviation market. Europe’s second highest court favoured Ryanair in a case involving an Italian state bailout.
In Technology, Ciara O’Brien looks at the good, the not so good and the future of GDPR on the fifth anniversary Europe’s landmark data protection legislation.
And Chris Horn examines how green offshore power is after all.
Finally, in her Tech Tools, Ciara looks at a free hiking app that can only encourage you to get out and about this summer It offers a list of trusted walking and hiking routes around Ireland as well as further afield.
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