Energy suppliers are talking down the prospects of an imminent fall in household energy bills even as wholesale energy prices have slumped by 64 per cent from the level they were at a year ago, writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy. It comes as a survey says Dublin households are paying nearly twice the EU average for electricity.
When it comes to inflation, the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council is now more worried about increases in mortgage payments as tens of thousands of homeowners’ fixed rates expire and they are forced on to higher payments. Eoin writes that home loan costs will see inflation easing more slowly that many economists expect.
On the upside, however modest, markets are now betting against a further rise in European Central Bank interest rates next month after the contraction of private-sector activity in the euro zone intensified.
Inflation in the construction sector is easing, according to a leading firm of quantity surveyors, as a slowdown in office building and planning bottlenecks cool demand. Barry O’Halloran has the details.
But that hasn’t been enough to cheer consumer sentiment which weakened for the first time in five months in August as negative job news, a deteriorating global outlook and poor weather dampened the mood, according to the latest Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Index published today.
The Australian senator who spearheaded the parliamentary investigation into abuse of confidential information by senior partners at PwC Australia was in Dublin yesterday and she told Eoin Burke-Kennedy that she now thinks that “seeking opportunities to exploit conflicts of interest is actually the business model” of consulting firms.
Entries are now being sought for the 14th year of The Irish Times Innovation Awards, with five categories on offer: sustainability; IT and Fintech; life sciences and healthcare; new frontiers, and first-time founder. Michael McAleer explains the process.
Dublin Airport operator DAA has described Fingal County Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for an expansion of the US Customs Pre-Clearance and Border Protection facility as “totally unreasonable and unjustified”. Gordon Deegan reports on the DAA’s appeal.
Gordon also writes that Dublin City Council has refused planning permission to Eamon Waters’s expanding Sretaw hotel group for a penthouse suite on top of its Chancery Hotel due to the impact on the nearby Dublin Castle.
Cantillon looks at the red faces in the Central Bank over its data breach affecting up to 20,500 people whose details were kept on the central credit register longer than they should have been.
It also asks whether, from consumers’ point of view, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath would be better berating energy firms over prices rather than banks over deposit rates.
Covid-related hiccups in supply chains and subsequent car shortages helped drive revenues at Dublin Toyota and Lexus dealer Denis Mahony up by 25 per cent to €88.3 million, writes Ian Curran.
In Net Results, Karlin marvels at the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland which has pieced together much of the national archive that was lost to fire when the Four Courts were burned during the Civil War.
As Ireland’s rugby team warms up ahead of the Rugby World Cup, Rory Fleming dropped into the high performance centre to size up new technology that the coaches hope will give them the edge.
Finally, in Innovation, Chris Horn looks at whether harvesting solar power from space and nuclear fusion are two possible ways forward for the planet’s energy crisis.
And the FT’s Martin Arnold has a look at how Ireland’s economy, with its focus on multinational investment, is causing chaos with euro zone economic statistics.
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