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Dublin Airport warning, construction keeps contracting and beware the office jerk

The best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

An Aer Lingus-commissioned report warns of the consequences of maintaining the passenger cap at Dublin Airport. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

Peter Flanagan's face
Peter Flanagan
Mon Jan 15 2024 - 06:31

The row over passenger caps at Dublin Airport rumbles on. Current restrictions on passenger capacity at the could cost the Irish economy €1.4 billion and 37,000 jobs for every 1 million passengers not allowed to arrive into the airport, according to a report commissioned by Aer Lingus. Ellen O’Regan reports.

Writing in The Irish Times, Aer Lingus CEO Lynne Embleton warns retaining the caps could have huge implications for Ireland Inc.

December saw a further “plunge” in commercial construction activity, as developers were hit by higher interest rates and input costs coupled with softening demand for office space. The latest monthly construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) published by BNP Paribas Real Estate shows that overall construction activity contracted in the final month of 2023, but at a softer pace than the previous month. Ellen has the story.

Irish hotel occupancy rates improved in 2023 and are expected to remain “robust” this year, according to a survey by Deloitte which sees extreme heat elsewhere in Europe driving up future demand for tourist accommodation in Ireland. A survey of the European hotel industry by professional services firm Deloitte found that the greatest demand increase last year was for five-star luxury hotels in Dublin, where occupancy levels increased by 10.2 per cent.

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Some 100,000 premises across Dublin, including 50,000 homes and businesses in Dublin city, can now access high-speed fibre broadband through SIRO, a joint-venture company between ESB and Vodafone.

In his column, Eoin Burke-Kennedy asks why Northern Ireland has not seen anything like the great economic peace dividend that had been expected after the Good Friday Agreement was signed.

In Working Life, Anjli Kavil writes that while the office jerk may appear to be the one getting ahead, over the long term they will have a limited shelf life.

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