Airport operator DAA should ignore ‘arbitrary’ passenger cap in Dublin, says Michael O’Leary

Airport operator DAA should ignore the 32 million passenger limit at Dublin Airport, according to Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, reports the Business Post.

“It’s entirely arbitrary, it is to do with surface access at Dublin Airport and what are Fingal going to do? Stop the planes flying? It is nonsense and rubbish,” he said.

“But it is another example of just arrant mismanagement of transport by a Green minister.”

In response to the comments, a spokesman for Fingal County Council told the Business Post that the limit on numbers was imposed by An Bord Pleanála in 2007 and if the local authority received any complaints about it, it would “act accordingly”.

The outlook for interest rate cuts is changing - so should Irish borrowers be worried?

---

Extend EV grant to second-hand purchases, says PwC

---

Card data suggests it’s not all doom and gloom in the hospitality sector

---

Latest euro zone inflation figures suggest ECB will move slowly on rates

---

Mr O’Leary also criticised the DAA for not moving earlier to seek to have the cap increased. Planning permission to raise it to 40 million is expected to take two years to be processed.

RTÉ contractors

RTÉ has started the process of contacting some employees to tell them their contracts will not be renewed as part of its recently announced cost-cutting plans, reports the Sunday Independent.

Staff on short-term and non-permanent contracts have been told their contracts will expire in the coming weeks. Some employees on “acting up” contracts have also been affected, with their time substituting for other staff on a higher grade set to come to an end.

An RTÉ source told the Sunday Independent’s Niamh Horan that the mood within Montrose was one of “paranoia and insecurity” as staff wait to hear further details of director Kevin Bakhurst’s cutbacks plan, which will be implemented to close a gap between the broadcaster’s total funding and its annual costs.

It is targeting €10 million in cuts next year, while 400 employees are set to leave the organisation between now and 2028.

Stock exchange request

Government officials said it was a “notion” to say the State could create rules to stimulate the struggling Irish equity market and declined a request from Euronext Dublin to be included in a key strategy on financial services, reports the Business Post.

The operator of the Irish stock exchange wrote to the Government last year seeking inclusion in an update to the Ireland for Finance strategy – a document that sets out the State’s priorities for financial services in the coming years.

However, officials expressed scepticism about the idea that Government intervention could improve the situation. The refreshed strategy makes no mention of public markets or stimulating initial public offer (IPO) activity in Ireland, despite concerns expressed about the future of the stock exchange amid an exodus of big companies.

Eir dividends

Eir, the former State-owned telecoms company, paid out dividends of €119 million to its shareholders in the three months to the end of September, bringing total distributions since the start of last year to more than €1 billion.

In total Eir has this year paid out €237 million in regular dividends to shareholders, led by the French billionaire Xavier Niel.

Last year the company made a distribution of €800 million following the sale of a minority stake in its fibre network to InfraVia Capital Partners, a French investment fund.

Eir last week reported a 4 per cent fall in earnings for the quarter, despite higher revenues.

Kildare Village boost

Revenue at Value Retail Dublin, the company behind the Kildare Village shopping outlet, jumped 54 per cent last year as the luxury retail destination bounced back from Covid restrictions, reports the Sunday Independent.

Value Retail Dublin delivered an operating profit of €2.5 million in 2022, compared with €368,000 in the previous year and also received a €10.4 million boost from a change in the fair value of Euribor interest rate swaps. After finance costs, the pretax profit was €6.2 million, compared with a loss of €5.5 million in 2021.

Revenue for 2022 was €18.5 million, up from just under €12 million in 2021, when Kildare Village was closed for 136 days.

Occupancy was just over 90 per cent at the end of last year. The €70 million third phase of the shopping outlet opened fully in February 2022, adding another 31 more units and a luxury private lounge.