If the US AI bubble bursts, Ireland stands to suffer more than most, the ESRI says, given the presence of some any of the big players in this State. In its quarterly economic commentary, out this morning, it also cautions that housing completions next year are again likely to come in below Government targets. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports.
The company behind the popular Fallon & Byrne restaurant in Dublin city centre saw losses fall in 2024 as it reported 7 per cent growth in revenues, according to new filings at Companies Office, writes Ciarán Hancock, with the owners stating that it is now “self-sustaining”.
Sticking with high profile Irish brands, Kilkenny Design has found itself in trouble with the consumer protection watchdog, the CCPC, as it was fined €600 over failures to display prices at its landmark Nassau Street store in Dublin.
Also in retail, the owners of Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, who saw a €100 million revamp plan rejected by An Coimisiún Pleanála five months ago, are making a renewed bid to redevelop the landmark shopping centre. Gordon Deegan writes that DTDL Ltd has given notice that it is to lodge plans for an eight-storey building in the coming days.
House price inflation eased to 7.3 per cent year-on-year in October, down from 7.5 per cent in September, according to the CSO, with the rate outside Dublin at 8.9 per cent well in advance of the 5.4 per cent growth in the capital. Eoin Burke-Kennedy examines the figures.
Meanwhile, figures from the Central Bank show that 23,779 family homes are still more than three months in arrears on their mortgages. That, writes Ian Curran, is a post-crash low. Just 3.4 per cent of all principal home mortgage accounts are now in arrears, down from almost 13 per cent after the crash.
With a blizzard of scam calls from UK numbers in recent weeks, AIB has produced some research which has found that the most common scams leading to money being stolen from people this year started with text messages sent to phones. Conor Pope reports.
Speaking of losses, restructuring specialists Azets Ireland have published their latest update on the Small Companies Administrative Rescue Process (Scarp), showing that demand for the service was down almost a quarter this year. But financial headwinds loom, Azets tell Ian Curran.
Looking at debt on a much larger scale, Joe Brennan reports that the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has now handed over a higher-than-expected €5.6 billion of cash and assets to the State in advance of its expected closure in the new year.
If tech features among the gifts under your tree this year, Ciara O’Brien has some tips on planning ahead to ensure you avoid a frustrating Christmas morning.
In her tech review, she takes a look at Dublin-based OneSonic’s Studio Pro headphones. In a world where gadgets must be feature heavy, multifunctional and connected, these, she says, just concentrate on good audio.
Emmet Ryan harks back to the rise and fall of Venice as a hub of innovation and trade in Net Results as he considers the fate of iRobot, the company behind the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, which this week filed for bankruptcy protection having slumped from a peak valuation of €3 billion in 2021 to just €120 million.
And Olive Keogh talks to Gavin Hefferon who has built a hairstyle products business on the back of what started as a Transition Year project.
Finally, Ireland’s budgetary watchdog, Ifac, told an Oireachtas committee this week that the Government intends to save just 15 per cent of the projected €34 billion of corporation tax receipts for next year – half the level of this year. Ifac chairman Seamus Coffey joins host Ciaran Hancock on Inside Business to discuss his concerns on how the Government is spending our corporation tax windfall.
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