Ireland’s budgetary watchdog, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, has once again urged caution on spending as the Government prepares for its final budget before a general election, warning Minister for Finance Michael McGrath he risks overheating an economy already operating at full capacity. For his part, the Minister has no trouble finding figures which he says show just how well the Coalition has managed the public finances. Peter Flanagan and Eoin Burke-Kennedy report.
Intel has sealed a deal with will give the US chipmaker $11 billion in return for giving Apollo Global a 49 per cent stake in a joint venture controlling its new Fab 34 at Leixlip, in Co Kildare.
Irish consumers are noticeably more worried about their personal financial position and the impact of inflation than their peers in other countries, according to a new global survey by Big Four accountants, PwC. Laura Slattery has the details.
The new regime allowing older people to set down how they want to be cared for if they can no longer make decisions for themselves is simpler, broader and more empowering, according to a long-time advocate for vulnerable people in response to a row between the Decision Support Service and the Law Society that people say is holding up their attempts to put arrangements in place.
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Irish punters turned their backs on prize bonds in 2023, according to figures published last yesterday by the company that manages the sale of the bonds on behalf of the National Treasury Management Agency. Sales of new prize bonds were outnumbered by demands from existing bondholders for repayment despite a 50 per cent jump in prize money.
Plans to demolish the landmark Stillorgan Orchard pub and its famous thatched roof in south Dublin in a plan to build 41 new apartment have been met with “shock and disappointment” by people living in the area, local public representatives have said. Colin Gleeson reports.
Also in Stillorgan, Ronald Quinlan reports that DNG is guiding €4 million for the former Beaufield Mews restaurant site with has full planning permission for 30 large apartments in a four-storey block.
The woes of the Irish electric vehicle market continue with sales down 21.85 per cent so far on last year at a time when the overall new car market is up by 3.8 per cent. EV sales have fallen in seven of the last nine months, writes Michael McAleer, though the market for hybrids is holding up well.
Also having an ongoing bad time is solicitor Ammi Burke, who has now been ordered to pay the costs of both Arthur Cox and the Workplace Relations Commission after losing her latest appeal following her dismissal by the top law firm back in 2019. Those costs come on top of previous defendant costs at the High Court so the bills are mounting.
In her column, Rana Foroohar argues that disruption is now coming to bite the consultancy industry that made a cult of it. She doesn’t sound remotely unhappy about that.
A new European Union law aimed at tackling deforestation risks disrupting commodities exports to the European Union, raising prices for consumers on their morning coffee and threatening the livelihoods of farmers from Indonesia to Honduras.
In Commercial Property, two of Dublin city’s best-known pubs are set to change hands for sums of up to €7 million and €5.5 million respectively, writes Ronald Quinlan. Foley’s bar on Merrion Row is in the process of being acquired by a private-equity vehicle headed by the cofounder of one of Ireland’s biggest builders while McSorley’s in Ranelagh appears to the be the latest addition to the portfolio of a group of former Irish rugby internationals led by publican Noel Anderson.
Finally, small business lobby Isme published a pre-budget submission that is not likely to go down too well staff of member companies. The group wants lower VAT for members but higher PRSI and tighter controls on how the national minimum wage is set.
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