Ireland’s dependence on a handful of multinational companies to drive technological progress and productivity leaves the State exposed, a new report commissioned by Stripe founders, John and Patrick Collison, has claimed. It calls for “urgent” Government action to safeguard future economic growth, largely by focusing on turning the domestic sector into an engine of growth for the economy. Ian Curran reports.
Also proposing major change is European Union commissioner Michael McGrath, who becomes the latest to take on the thorny issue of persuading 27 member states to harmonise certain some national rules around tax and insolvency to boost Europe-wide investment and innovation. At least, writes Jack Power, he has had the sense to steer clear of labour and employment laws but getting his proposal over the line will still be a major achievement.
No change in the trend for Irish house prices, which started 2026 on the rise – up by 7 per cent nationally over the previous 12 months. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports that the average can hide significant differences. Prices in Fingal are up just 3.8 per cent, but they are 15.9 per cent higher than January 2025 in the midlands.
Ireland’s “third bank”, PTSB, does face change although it remains to be seen just what that looks like. Joe Brennan reports that the bank on Wednesday confirmed long-reported rumours that Austrian banking group Bawag is one “of a number of parties” involved in the sales process of the State-controlled lender.
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Central Bank officials say it is “very clear” mortgage arrears levels are too high in Ireland, with 13,000 consumers failing to keep up with payments. Colin Gleeson reports as officials from the regulator came before the Oireachtas finance committee to discuss the role of non-bank entities in the Irish housing market and their impact on residential mortgages.
Stocks slid and oil prices rose sharply on Thursday after a major escalation in the US and Israel’s war with Iran rattled investors.
Calls for a blanket ban on social media call to mind for Emmet Ryan the tale of King Canute. It’s easy to say that something must be done, especially when there are so very many examples of harm being caused, he writes, but doing the wrong thing could well exacerbate the problem.
Covanta, or Encyclis as its UK-based European business is now known, is selling out of the Poolbeg incinerator it built in Dublin a decade ago, writes Cantillon. Its stake in the business is being acquired by the Universities Superannuation Scheme – one of the biggest private pension funds in the UK.
Irish people took more journeys abroad last year than in 2024, the CSO disclosed, while the number of domestic trips, including so-called staycation holidays, dipped. Trips abroad – most of them for holiday – were 11 per cent up year-on-year while trips within the State were down 8 per cent, writes Ian Curran.
Estate agent Lisney has appointed Aoife Brennan as its new chief executive, replacing David Byrne, who was in the position for six years. Byrne is to stay with the company and continue to lead its residential division. James Nugent will lead the group’s commercial business. Colin Gleeson has the details.
Government support for workforce training represents “a very poor return” for employers who fund it, business representative organisations have told members of an Oireachtas committee, Colin reports, with a “a radical and concentrated focus on the skills of SME workers, managers and owners in indigenous enterprise” needed.
Consumers worried about online privacy and data sovereignty may be tempted by Motorola’s new phone offering, writes Derek Scally – a new handset running the privacy-focused software Graphene OS, built by a Canadian non-profit foundation founded a decade ago to strip back Android, owned by Google, to its origins as a sleek, privacy-respecting open-source operating system.
Our New Innovators this week are Adelin Diac and Emmanuel Karibiye who have written an AI operating system, CallCrewAI, that automates the back office for trades and field services. But before they wrote a line of code, the two men joined an electrical contractors and did everything from answering emergency calls at 4am to chasing updates and handling the chaos that comes with running a busy trades operation. “In order to build for the trades, you need to live their life,” says Adelin Diac.
Sherry Fitzgerald cofounder Mark FitzGerald, who is also chairman of the Fine Gael Commission for Renewal, joins Cliff Taylor this week on our Inside Business podcast to discuss the lack of imagination around land use and zoning as some of the key contributors to the challenging housing situation in the capital. Also on this episode, the ESRI’s Muireann Lynch discusses the latest report from the think tank that suggests Ireland is trending to fall far below the 2030 Climate Action Plan targets.
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