Large publicly listed companies in Ireland have made further progress in gender representation on their boards, reaching a milestone target of 40 per cent female representation. The latest figures from the Government-backed Balance for Better Business showed representation inched up from 39 per cent in September. Ciara O’Brien has the details
Marguerite Brosnan was in the Pyrenees mountain region in southern France last July enjoying her first family holiday since taking over as chief executive of Axa Insurance in Ireland six months earlier when she got a call that would cut the break short. She tells Joe Brennan what happened next.
Income tax cuts are the Holy Grail of Britain’s Conservative Party, the electoral fuel that its MPs covet to boost the party’s flagging hopes at this year’s upcoming general election, writes London Correspondent Mark Paul. To deliver significant tax cuts to fuel growth chancellor Jeremy Hunt would have needed – not his ministerial red box – but a magician’s cape and wand.
Two female founders have launched a limited-edition whiskey in time for International Women’s Day, to highlight the lack of female representation in the male-dominated whiskey industry. Separately, a new non-profit organisation to advocate for women in the whiskey industry has also been launched to coincide with International Women’s Day. Ellen O’Regan reports.
We will need to grow the number of young people training in the construction area, not only in traditional trades like block-laying, but also in modern methods of construction, such as making and assembling prefabricated timber panels, writes John FitzGerald in his weekly column. Construction pay rates may also need to rise, if an apprenticeship and career in building is to compete with the abundance of alternative career paths in other sectors.
Is Ireland in recession?
A programme intended to help women establish or grow small businesses in Gaeltacht areas is to expand with the organisers hoping to support more than 100 female entrepreneurs over the next three years, reports Emmet Malone.
Four out of five consumers in Ireland say they are doing as much as they can to be sustainable, as new research from EY warns that momentum in the sustainable energy transition is “at risk of slipping” among households. A survey by the consulting firm of 23,000 energy consumers across 21 countries, including 1,042 in Ireland, found that households are more interested than ever in sustainability and the potential of a clean energy future, writes Elleen O’Regan
The combined operating profits of Aviva’s Irish general insurance and life and pensions businesses rose 81 per cent last year to €87 million, driven by higher investment returns in the general coverage arm, writes Joe Brennan. Operating profit in Aviva Insurance Ireland, the third-largest personal and commercial insurer in the State, rose by €72 million from €32 million for the previous year as premiums increased 5 per cent to €521 million and its investments pot benefited from a higher interest rate environment.
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