Government seeks clarity on energy bill cuts ahead of Budget 2024

The Government is putting pressure on energy companies to cut the cost of household bills before Budget 2024, reports the Business Post.

Wholesale energy prices continue to fall, with wholesale electricity prices falling to their lowest point since 2021. But most energy companies have not passed on the reductions to their customers, possibly due to hedging strategies that have locked them into higher wholesale prices for long periods of time.

This has prompted frustration within the Government amid a lack of information on when energy bills might start to fall, and will make forming a cost-of-living package for the October budget more complicated, the newspaper reports.

Airbnb listings rise

Airbnb listings in Dublin have increased 57 per cent in the last year, with properties actively listed for short-term let rising from 2,617 in June 2022 to 4,099 in June 2023, said the Sunday Times.

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Citing figures provided by AirDNA, a data analytics company, it said the number of properties on the platform grew 11 per cent nationally over that time period to 24,172.

The rise as the number of people in emergency accommodation reached a record high by the end of June.

CRH’s Ukraine investment

Building materials giant CRH is investing €34 million in the construction of a cement shipping complex in Ukraine, reports the Sunday Independent. The complex will be able to receive, store and ship 450,000 tons of cement annually.

Ruslan Kravchenko, head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, said CRH-owned Cemark completed the construction of the “main stage” of the construction project earlier this month.

The role that Irish businesses could potentially play in helping rebuild Ukraine was discussed between Denys Shmyhal, prime minister of Ukraine, and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during his visit to Kyiv earlier this month.

Google job cuts

Google’s Irish bosses were concerned that too many staff on some teams would have wanted to take voluntary redundancy when the company moved to cut 240 jobs earlier this year, said the Business Post, citing an internal Google document.

Workers at Google attempted to persuade the company not to impose compulsory redundancies during cuts in March, but this proposal was rejected and ultimately 196 jobs were cut.

The managers cited a survey provided by employee representatives showing that in its customer sales team, three times more workers wanted to take redundancy than the number of jobs it wanted to cut. It was felt that declining applications under a voluntary scheme could affect “future engagement”.

Eddie O’Connor’s vineyard

Irish renewable energy entrepreneur Eddie O’Connor has bought a vineyard in Bordeaux to pursue a project in wine production, reports the Sunday Independent.

Mr O’Connor told the newspaper he bought the 15-hectare Château Tour des Termes, owned for five generations by the Anney family, for an undisclosed sum because he has been interested in wine production for 40 years and always wanted to own a vineyard in Bordeaux.

He said he will be retaining the brand and is looking to help enhance the product further, eventually bringing the wine to Ireland.

Meta’s Ballsbridge rent talks

Meta Platforms, the company behind social media brands Facebook and Instagram as well as messaging service WhatsApp, is pushing for substantial rent-free concessions from its landlord at the Fibonacci Square development in Ballsbridge, Dublin, reports the Sunday Times.

Meta has cited delays in the delivery of the complex as its reason for seeking the concessions. The €550 million project forms part of the company’s European headquarters in Ballsbridge, but Meta decided last year not to occupy the Fibonacci buildings despite signing a 25-year lease, instructing its agent to sublet the blocks.

Fortress Investment Group, Meta’s landlord, has agreed to enter an independent arbitration process, the newspaper understands.