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Seen & Heard: Stripe to expand Irish workforce, and O’Leary’s Ryanair bonuses

Bank of Ireland expected to sell UK credit card book, and Louis Fitzgerald planning bid for Dublin pub Bruxelles

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary, aboard one of his aircraft in the Ryanair hangar at Stansted Airport. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Sun Feb 24 2019 - 15:21

Bank of Ireland to sell UK loan book

Bank of Ireland is expected to sell its £600 million (€690 million) UK credit card loan book after the bank decided it would be unable to sufficiently build up the scale of the business up to match its competition, reports The Sunday Times. BOI chief executive Francesca McDonagh announced a review of the business last year.

Fitzgerald’s Bruxelles bid

Veteran publican Louis Fitzgerald is planning a bid for the landmark city centre pub Bruxelles, The Sunday Times also reports. The paper's sources speculate that the pub, currently owned by Dave Egan, may be worth €10 million.

Stripe doubling workforce

The Sunday Times reports that that €20 billion payments tech firm Stripe will soon double its Dublin workforce to about 300, and will hire "hundreds more" in future. The paper reports that Stripe, controlled by Patrick and John Collison, will make Dublin its first big engineering base outside the US.

O’Leary’s Ryanair bonus

The Sunday Telegraph reports that some of the “most powerful institutions” in the City of London are plotting to thwart Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary’s proposed €100 million bonus package. The paper says the institutions, which are Ryanair investors, are planning to approach a corporate governance lobby group to spearhead their plan.

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Ornua’s Brexit plan

The Sunday Independent reports that the main producer co-operative that exports Irish dairy products, Ornua, previously known as the Irish Dairy Board, is preparing for a Brexit “worst case” scenario in which Irish producers would be locked out of the UK cheese market. Irish producers supply 20 per cent of the cheddar eaten in the UK annually, at a value of €300 million.

Government banking report

An unpublished Government report estimates that the Irish banking system may need to double loan-to-deposit ratios if the system is to remain capable of meeting the needs of the mortgage and construction markets in five years time, The Sunday Independent says. The report by the Department of Finance is based upon the lending capacity required for a predicted housing need of 50,000 new homes per year.

Offer for children’s hospital

The Sunday Business Post reports that Blackrock Medical, backed by Joseph Sheahan, has approached the Government with a proposal to purchase the new National Children's Hospital from the State, which could then lease the building back for a term of up to 50 years. The paper suggests the proposal was made in a letter sent to Paschal Donohoe, the Minister for Finance.

IBRC and Quinn family

Three adult children of former billionaire Sean Quinn - his daughters Aoife, Colette and Ciara, together with the former tycoon's sons in law - Niall McPartland, Stephen Kelly and Karen Woods - are being pursued in the Irish courts by insolvency practitioners appointed by IBRC over Russian judgment alleging debts of more than €1 million, The Sunday Business Post reports.

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