Brexit in reach, Aryzta investor lockout, and a business approach to the housing crisis

Agreement on Brexit might finally be within reach it appears, if only British prime minister Theresa May can get the accord through her cabinet and the parliament. Cliff Taylor, Denis Staunton and Pat Leahy are among the team reporting and analysing on events overnight.

The news was not so good for hundreds of Irish shareholders in troubled bakery group Aryzta, who have been effectively locked out of the company's €790 million rights issue in a way that will cut the value of their stake in the company by 90 per cent.

The housing crisis is back in focus with listed property investor Hibernia Reit planning to put its money where its mouth is – selling their 326 existing apartments to fund a major housing scheme at Newlands Cross on the Naas Road. The company fears the housing shortage may strange its main business - office development and letting, writes Barry O'Halloran.

Tesco is tapping into the growing appetite for vegan dishes with a new plant-based "steak" from a Dutch food group that it says is "barely distinguishable from the real thing" in taste, texture and smell. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.

Investors win as Trump tax reform delivers share buybacks

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Hopes for Brexit deal lift euro and sterling

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Ireland not the only EU state struggling with rural broadband

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Union to meet Central Bank over staff ‘hot desking’ concerns

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TwoKPMG partnershave been given a final deadline to produce witness statements for the ongoing Irish Nationwide Building Society Central bank inquiry. Joe Brennan reports.

Are Irish tax rates keeping people out of the workforce? Fiona Reddan looks at a report from a British free market think tank that argues we should always work more for ourselves than for the state.

And in commercial property, Jack Fagan reports on the purchase by the Department of Education outbid several housebuilders to acquire the old Findlater family home on Newtownpark Avenue, close to Foxrock, for €8 million.

He also reports on the sale of the former Murphy & Gunne BMW showroom in Milltown, in Dublin, with an asking price of over €7 million.

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