The budget is rapidly coming down the tracks and the requests from industry groups and government departments continue. One proposal that seems nailed on is a reduction in VAT on restaurants from 13.5 per cent to 9 per cent. But how much good will it do? The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has run the numbers, and it makes for uncomfortable reading if you are in the hospitality sector or Government. Businesses in the sector are more likely to pass on VAT increases to consumers while keeping a higher proportion of VAT reductions, it found. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.
In her column, Ciara O’Brien asks why AI chatbots are so bad at Irish, and what that can tell us about the wider AI eco-system being created today.
Cantillon looks at the fallout from this week’s Construction Industry Federation annual conference as well as what China’s National Day tells us about the economy there. It also runs the rule over the long-running Chartered Accountants Ireland report on EY for its role as auditor of Anglo Irish Bank.
Businessman Larry Goodman’s family continues to harbour an ambition for the Barryroe oil and gas prospect off coast of Co Cork to be developed, two years after rescuing the company that held the licence before it was allowed to lapse by the previous government. Joe has the story.
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In Technology, Sean Duke looks at a breakthrough that may help data centres hit their climate goals, while Ciara O’Brien reviews the new iPhone Air.
Capital markets union has been something of a dream for EU policymakers for years, but it is yet to come to pass. Speaking to Jack Power, EU finance commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque outlines what is at stake and why it is so important.
Small businesses have taken aim at Government plans to increase the minimum wage in next week’s budget, claiming further increases to their costs will be “devastating”. Colin Gleeson reports.
Trade between the Republic and Northern Ireland is “an oasis of calm” in an increasingly disruptive world that should be seized upon by businesses on both sides of the Border, companies have been told. Mark Hennessy has the details.
Chicken producer Moy Park has paid dividends of £124.5 million (€143 million) this year to its US owners, according to accounts just filed for 2024. That comes on top of payments of £98.3 million that were paid during the trading year to Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation.
A consortium led by Irish property developer Johnny Ronan has received planning permission for a 20-storey hotel at the former Irish Glass Bottle site in the docklands area in Dublin. Hugh Dooley reports.
A senior manager at Aer Lingus has told a tribunal she feared that a pilot-turned-whistleblower would enjoy the “Barbara Streisand effect” if an injunction was sought to stop him posting online about his dispute with the airline. Stephen Bourke reports.
Co Derry native Jonathan Anderson has presented his first major collection for French fashion house Dior. Deirdre McQuillan was there.
There is “not a shred of evidence” that the then Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson received any money from the Nama deal, a Belfast court heard on Wednesday. Prosecuting barrister Jonathan Kinnear KC spent the third day on his feet at Belfast Crown Court opening the prosecution’s case against two businessmen currently on trial on charges of fraud. Ashleigh McDonald was in court.
Broadcaster Eoin McDevitt and his four colleagues from the Second Captains podcast shared a bumper production fee pot of €715,000 last year, according to accounts just filed. Gordon Deegan has the story.
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