House prices and loan approvals, data centres in Ireland, and Ryan Tubridy’s farming gig

The number of borrowers approved for home loans in August fell sharply, according to new figures from the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI). But the banking lobby group insists that demand from borrowers remains strong. Ian Curran reports.

On a related topic, Ian Curran has the details of the latest Daft.ie report on house prices, which shows that asking prices for homes inched higher in the third quarter buoyed by strong demand and a sharp decline in the number of homes listed for sale.

Who owns and operates the growing number of data centres here and what long term impact are they going to have on our energy consumption? Colm Keena mines the available data on the growth of a sector that prefers to remain out of sight.

Ryan Tubridy is set to make his first public appearance since his departure from RTÉ, at an event for women in farming to be held next month in Kilkenny, according to our columnist John Burns. He also has details on forecourt operator Applegreen pulling the plug on a deal with ESB for electric vehicle chargers, an Irish artist proving a hit in Asia, and the appointment of two new data commissioners.

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Cyber attack at Irish telecoms firm?

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British Virgin Islands-based company buying up portfolio of premium Dublin properties

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Bonds are back: but should you invest?

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In our Interview of the Week, dapper Irish banker David Duffy tells Mark Paul how he’s on a mission to make Virgin Money the best digital bank in the British market and how he’s fully embraced the culture of working from home. “My secretary is a mother of three and she can live in Newcastle [where the company also has an office]. I see her three or four times a year. I don’t need an assistant sitting 10 feet from me to admire my greatness.”

Raising the price of dirty fuels will drive investment in greener technologies as we seek to prevent catastrophic climate change, writes our columnist John FitzGerald.

It will probably take a decade or more to fully assess the impact of the pandemic on the workplace. In the meantime, organisational culture remains a touchy subject, according to Olive Keogh in our weekly feature on the world of work.

Deloitte Ireland’s revenues rose by 12 per cent last year as the Big Four firm said it was “cautiously optimistic” about continued growth. Ellen O’Regan has the details.

The opening of the first of Google’s offices in the old Boland’s Mills complex in Dublin’s Ringsend is a milestone for the tech company, writes Ciara O’Brien.

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