Pilots consider 17.75% pay offer and IDA reports on a slowdown

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Pilots are considering a Labour Court recommendation while intending passengers fret over whether their flights will take off at all. Photograph: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

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Aer Lingus remains the main headline news as passengers fret over whether their flights will be cancelled in the ongoing work to rule. The Labour Court has proposed that pilots get a 17.75 per cent pay rise up to mid-2026 as well as increased allowances and that a “debt” related to a previous deal be written off, writes Barry O’Halloran. Aer Lingus quickly accepted the deal: now it is down to whether the pilots feel they have secured sufficient ground to end their industrial action.

In other aviation news, DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs announced cuts to landing charges at Cork Airport for airlines switching routes otherwise destined for Dublin Airport which is struggling to work within a passenger cap imposed by local planning authorities. Barry Roche reports.

Elsewhere, IDA Ireland was putting a game face on first half figures that showed a fall in foreign direct investment announcements and jobs in the first half of the year. Geopolitical factors were cited, according to Eoin Burke-Kennedy but the agency was also quick to note the need for immediate action to ease concerns over housing, energy and water supplies that are worrying potential investors.

Smurfit Kappa, or Smurfit Westrock as it is now known, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange following a merger that has created the world’s largest cardboard maker. Chief executive Tony Smurfit and his executive colleagues were on hand to ring the bell at the exchange. Colin Gleeson reports.

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Stripe’s decision to take over 150,000 square feet on office space at Dublin’s Wilton Park One development helped drive office leasing activity to a multi-quarter high, according to figures published by JLL Ireland. Fiona Keely has the details.

Meanwhile, accountancy industry group Acca Ireland said new rules forcing Irish companies to report on the impact their activities have on society and the environment are “the most significant development in the accounting profession in 30 years”, according to a leading Irish accountancy body. But are companies ready for it? Colin Gleeson reports.

The sale of the global branding rights to Morphy Richards consumer goods drove strong growth in profit last year at Glen Dimplex, the household products group, writes Gordon Deegan.

It was a good day for Britvic as the company’s shares jumped following its agreement to a €3.9 billion takeover offer from Danish brewer Carlsberg.

Meanwhile, disgraced former BP chief executive Bernard Looney has apparently been in talks with senior United Arab Emirate regime figures as he looks to find a new role in the energy sector.

In personal finance, with Jack Chambers gearing up for his maiden budget as Minister for Finance, Fiona Reddan has some advice on budget blunders that he would be best advised to avoid.

Q&A deals with an executor who is unsure whether that role requires her to get involved in a family debate about whether a woman should go into nursing home care.

Finally, in her column, Bernice Harrison looks at the impact of new rules for public bodies on how they spend their advertising euro, more specifically how much of it must be spent on advertising through Irish and with Irish language outlets.

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