Ryanair losses tumble, date set for new 15% tax regime; and manufacturer price squeeze

In early breaking news this morning, Ryanair's losses tumbled to €48 million in the six months ended September 30th as passenger traffic rebounded.

G20 leaders have agreed to target 2023 as the date for the introduction of new rules on corporation tax, including the minimum tax rate of 15 per cent to which Ireland recently signed up, writes Naomi O'Leary who is covering the summit in Rome. The OECD-led reform was hailed as historic.

Closer to home, surging energy prices and supply chain disruption have pushed the Irish manufacturing purchasing managers' index to several unwelcome records as inflationary pressures build in the sector. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports.

With world leaders gathering Glasgow for COP26 and Taoiseach Micheál Martin due to present Ireland's position on Tuesday, Eoin's column looks at the thorny area of agricultural emissions, and suggests Government policy may be moving gently to protecting our diary sector at the cost of beef farmers.

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Ryanair’s first-half losses reduce to €48m

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Specialist property lender Octopus has launched in Ireland. With developers and homebuilders increasingly reliant on non-bank lenders , Octopus promises a speedy approvals process on bridging loans starting from €500,000 up to 70 per cent of project value over terms of one to 24 months. Eoin has the details.

Junk Kouture, the Donegal-founded platform that showcases work from post-primary school students making creative wearable fashion designs using recycled materials, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise more than €400,000 as it looks to further expand its model to a host of new cities worldwide. Charlie Taylor reports.

The United States and the European Union announced a deal to ease tariffs on aluminium and steel on the sidelines of the G20 summit as the two sides agreed a fundamental reset of their relationship after the turbulence of the Trump years. Naomi O'Leary writes that the deal, alongside a similar recent suspension of a decades old dispute over aircraft subsidies are a positive move for Irish industries that had found themselves in the crossfire of tit-for-tat tolls.

Web Summit returns as an in-person event in Lisbon this week, with more than 40,000 people expected to converge on the Portuguese capital for the annual tech conference hosted by Paddy Cosgrave. Charlie Taylor will be there for The Irish Times to catch the best of more than 700 speakers.

Charlie also reports that pre-tax losses more than doubled at the Irish arm of social media platform Twitter last year, according to newly filed accounts show. The company blames the 2019 acquisition of intellectual property, rising impairment charges and additional operating costs.

As employers wrestle with the new world of work, Pilita Clark points to research showing that forcing staff back to office will see companies lose some of those they value most, especially among minorities and well-educated mothers of young children.

In our Opinion slot, Tax and Welfare Commission chairwoman Niamh Mooney says the forum offers chance to tackle issues free from political pressures and emphasises the importance of public consultation in its process.

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