The Government is set to offer generous subsidies to global semiconductor companies in a bid to seed the next wave of technology-driven growth in the Republic and attract investment from the strategically important microchip industry, the Business Post reports.
On Monday, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke will unveil the Republic’s national semiconductor strategy, which aims to create 35,000 jobs and attract up to three high-tech semiconductor factories.
The Coalition wants global chip giants like Samsung and TSMC to build and invest in regional Ireland.
To do that, it will offer indirect subsidies, including the provision of sites through IDA Ireland, for which between €1 billion and €2 billion will be required to fit out the sites.
It comes amid soaring demand for semiconductors, led by the boom in artificial intelligence and data centre fit-outs.
Mercantile Hotel to reopen next month
Also in the Business Post, the long-awaited reopening of the Mercantile Hotel on Dublin’s Dame Street is now slated for June after its closure five years ago for refurbishment.
The redevelopment of the property – part of the group behind popular Dublin nightspots and restaurants like Café on Seine, the George and Pichet – was delayed by the Covid pandemic, but finishing touches are now being applied.
The hotel, which will employ 80 staff, comprises 105 rooms as well as a new bar, restaurant and coffee shop with chef Stephen Gibson of Pichet overseeing the menu.
Hauliers fear new port schedule to be scrapped
Truckers are concerned that an improved ferry timetable between Dublin and Holyhead introduced in the wake of Storm Darragh last year, is set to be scrapped, potentially leading to delays, the Sunday Independent reports.
The two main haulage lobby groups in Ireland and the UK are asking their respective governments to retain the existing timetable, which they say greatly improved ferry services and reduced congestion on the M50.
A staggered timetable was introduced after the storm caused extensive damage to a berth in Holyhead, leading to its closure.
But hauliers fear Stena Line and Irish Ferries are set to scrap the new schedule, which they say has worked much better than the old arrangement.
Locals object to plans for Ben Dunne’s home
The Sunday Times reports that residents have objected en masse to plans to redevelop Ben Dunne’s former home in west Dublin into a 175-unit housing scheme.
Fingal County Council has received some 120 objections from locals to the plans for the five-acre site in Carpenterstown, which were submitted by a company called Winterwood Developments.
The Dunnes moved out of the property some years ago, but Mr Dunne’s widow last year granted Winterwood permission to build on the lands.
The local authority has now asked for information after residents raised concerns about the density of the scheme, among other issues.
White Hag shifts production to US
Finally, the Sunday Independent reports that Irish craft brewer White Hag is set to shift some of its production to the US in a bid to get around punishing tariffs on imports of alcohol outlined by the Trump administration.
The Sligo beer-maker will brew some of its beer in the US under licence after reaching an agreement with an independent brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
White Hag co-founder Bob Coggins said the move could give it and other Irish brewers an “edge” over the brands in an industry staring down the barrel of 10 per cent levies on all exports to the world’s largest drinks market.
