New audit rules, energy security review, and how to save money on energy bills

The Irish accounting watchdog is planning to put a greater onus on auditors to look for potential fraud in company accounts, following on from developments in the UK following a series of financial scandals. Joe Brennan reports.

A review meant to gauge security of energy supplies in the Republic will not be completed until next year, according to Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, writes Barry O'Halloran.

A stand-off between Mallinckrodt, the Dublin-based but US-run drugmaker, and a small group of dissident shareholders, claiming their rights are being suppressed as the company goes through a restructuring in bankruptcy, is on track to be aired before the High Court in Dublin later this year. Joe Brennan has the details of this complex row.

Job vacancies exceeded pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter of 2021 as the economy reopened after months of lockdown, according to recruitment site IrishJobs.ie. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.

Proposed cap on moneylenders is very modest

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Irish auditors face increased pressure to detect fraud

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Dairy incomes are up but climate change issue looms

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Scorching sun illuminates passengers as they start to return to skies

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Paschal Donohoe seems to have come around to Sinn Fein's idea of capping the interest rates that moneylenders can charge, but the changes he has proposed still look modest, according to Cantillon.

Cantillon also looks at the issues facing the Irish farming sector, where dairy incomes are rising while the challenges this poses for climate change are being long fingered by the Government.

With energy companies here increasing their prices, our personal finance feature by Joanne Hunt looks at ways you can save cash by switching provider.

In Q&A, a reader rented out a house for the first six months of this year and subsequently spent money on renovations and cleaning. Can they claim expenses even though the tenancy and the renovation costs didn't dovetail? Dominic Coyle offers some guidance.

In Me & My Money, marine biologist and sustainability activist Finn van der Aar says he is a "huge fan" of buying second-hand clothes and electronics.

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