Ireland’s ambition to become a big net exporter of renewable electricity “risks being undermined unless policymakers act swiftly to address cost competitiveness challenges”, the National Economic and Social Council has warned the Government. Kevin O’Sullivan has the story, and also breaks down what the reports mean for Ireland.
It’s more popular than ever, but is buying a home with your other half when you aren’t married the right move for you? Joanne Hunt breaks down what is at stake in Money Matters.
Given the amount of trade news in recent days, it is understandable that the EU’s mammoth budget has moved somewhat under the radar. Martin Sandbu goes through the detail to show the good, the bad and ugly of the bloc’s spending plan.
Kevin also reports that progress in Ireland’s transition to clean energy is insufficient to meet key energy targets with “widening investment and delivery gaps”, an assessment of trends up to 2050 concludes. The report by energy analysts Wood Mackenzie, in collaboration with the energy company Pinergy, concludes Ireland could become a net exporter of electricity as early as 2030, enabled by offshore wind and new interconnectors.
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It’s earnings season, and we got our first look at the big banks, with Bank of Ireland reporting a 31 per cent drop in net profit for the first half of the year and higher than expected provisions for bad loans. The shares fell, with CEO Myles O’Grady set to cut 260 jobs next year. Joe Brennan has the details, and analyses why the market turned off the bank after the earnings.
The median price of homes in Ireland has risen by 9.5 per cent in the past year, according to a home valuation firm’s report. The Geowox Housing Market Report for the second quarter of the year found the median average price for an Irish home rose to €370,000 after a €32,000 rise in the same period in 2024. Hugh Dooley has the story.
The High Court has confirmed a Central Bank inquiry decision fining Irish Nationwide Building Society’s former finance director John Stanley Purcell €130,000 for his role in regulatory breaches at the lender before its collapse during the financial crisis. Mary Carolan reports.
A forensic investigation into loans from Fade Street Social restaurant company, which is in examinership, to three companies in which Dylan McGrath was a director and two of which Vincent Melinn had been a director, has been conducted by staff at recovery specialists Azets. Details emerged as the examiner to the business successfully applied for more time to save the restaurant.
The International Monetary Fund has upgraded its growth forecast for the euro zone on the back of a “strong GDP out-turn in Ireland”. As Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports, in its latest assessment of global economic conditions, the Washington-based institution said it expected growth in the euro zone to accelerate to 1 per cent in 2025 and 1.2 per cent in 2026.
A senior Dublin-based manager with Twitter who was deemed by the company to have resigned when he failed to sign up to the new “hard-core” work environment set out by Elon Musk had, in fact, availed of an “enhanced opportunity” to depart with severance pay, the company has told the Labour Court. Emmet Malone was there.
A former employee of popular Dublin ice cream parlour Spilt Milk, who said she quit after months of sexual harassment from a colleague a decade her senior, has secured €5,000 in compensation.
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