The Government has identified 100 unused properties including former convents and hospitals that could house up to 4,000 Ukrainian refugees within weeks, a report in the Sunday Times says. At the same time, fears are growing that the State is struggling to find long-term accommodation for those fleeing the Russian invasion. Senior sources have confirmed that the Government is also preparing to restructure its departments in order to speed up the allocation of housing offers made by private citizens, after complaints that many pledges were not being processed. Meanwhile, a poll for the Sunday Times shows 60 per cent of the Irish public want a cap to be put on the number of refugees coming into Ireland. Separately, the Sunday Business Post reports that the Government plans to establish a new structure to oversee the housing of Ukrainian refugees, following complaints from non-governmental organisations about a lack of coordination and gaps in the process.
Davy shelling out bumper prices for houses already leased to Limerick Council
Property investors in Limerick are flipping family homes that were bought for under €180,000 a year ago at more than twice that amount to an investment fund managed by Davy, according to a report in the Sunday Business Post. The sales were completed after Limerick City and County Council agreed to lease the properties for social housing. The activity of investment funds in the Limerick property market has started to "create a distortion effect" and "squeeze regular buyers out of the market", according to Conor Sheehan, a Labour Party councillor in the city. Last year Elm Long Income ICAV, a fund managed by Davy, started to acquire homes in Limerick. It acquired them from other investment firms that had recently bought the properties for €105,000-€180,000.
Irish companies scramble to restructure erratic supply chains
Irish businesses are looking into restructuring their supply chains as "global concerns", including the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, continue to hit, according to the Sunday Independent. Changes include potentially reviewing shipping methods, revising markets they buy goods from and exploring storage needs. The findings come in a new quarterly report by freight forwarder Woodland Group released earlier this month. It found the first quarter of 2022 had been an "extremely mixed period" for firms at all stages of the supply chain, adding that glimmers of hope had been bookended by far-reaching global challenges. The report highlighted a "mass over-capacity across European hubs", slowing the speed of shipments to and from Ireland, with bottlenecks at crucial ports. Congestion in the US and Covid in China were also flagged as slowing Ireland's global supply network.
Trucking company backed by Bono and the Edge valued at $3.8bn
Convoy, an on-demand trucking company backed by Bono and the Edge, has raised an additional $260 million (€239.8 million) at a $3.8 billion valuation, according the Sunday Business Post. Headquartered in Seattle, Convoy is a provider of on-demand shipment services designed to connect trucking companies with freight shippers. The company's platform uses machine learning to connect a network of more than 400,000 trucks in the US to move goods more efficiently. Bono and the Edge were early investors in the company, which was founded in 2015. Dan Lewis, the Convoy chief executive, said at the time that given the musicians have spent most of their lives on the road, "they know a thing or two about trucks".
