Ryanair takes on Expedia in US courts, Joseph Stiglitz takes on corrupt global system

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from ‘The Irish Times’ business desk

Ryanair alleges Expedia has engaged in ‘screen scraping’. Photograph: AFP
Ryanair alleges Expedia has engaged in ‘screen scraping’. Photograph: AFP

We have news this morning of a legal action Ryanair is taking in the US against Expedia Inc, one of the world's largest online travel agents, for allegedly "screen scraping" fares illegally from Ryanair's website and selling them on at a mark-up. Mark Paul has the story.

It emerged yesterday that the Department of Finance still can't say exactly when the Government will start collecting the €13 billion the European Commission has deemed Apple must pay over in illegal state aid. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitztells Eoin Burke-Kennedy that this is damaging Ireland's international reputation, with special tax deals in general forming part of a corrupt global system that has spawned US president, Donald Trump. Prof Stiglitz also suggests that those on the very right of politics tend to "have a particular proclivity for dishonesty".

Cliff Taylor looks at US plans to reform the corporate tax system and the kind of impact they might have on FDI flows here. In short, it's another negative.

Joe Brennan was first with this week's news of the Irish Stock Exchange's sale to Euronext and today he looks at the wider ramifications of the deal, both for the beneficiaries and for the business, including its employees, in Dublin.

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Our business interview this week is Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney, who tells Ciarán Hancock about maintaining his appetite for the job, and how he finds himself cooking for his family more and more.

In his Caveat column, Mark Paul takes on what some might describe the "guff" that appears to permeate the technology sector, wondering if all that "windbagging" is actually necessary.

In our World of Work section, Olive Keogh discusses an issue so close to many of our hearts: actually finding a real person to talk to when we have a customer services issue. She writes that even in this oh-so-digital world where human contact with a company can feel like a historical phenomenon, customers still need to know there might be a real person somewhere at the end of the line.

Finally, going further back in history today is John FitzGerald, who takes a trip to 1925 and crunch negotiations between the Irish and British governments on among, other things, the Border. In that instance, the Irish side won a lucrative deal on debt but lost on the North, a result that could be brought forward as a parallel backdrop to today's Brexit talks.

Úna McCaffrey

Úna McCaffrey

Úna McCaffrey is Digital Features Editor at The Irish Times.