US hotel chain, Hyatt, is coming to Ireland after striking a deal with the Hodson Bay hotel group that is building a four-star property on the edge of Dublin's Liberties at the Coombe. Mark Paul has the details.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg appeared before European Parliament party leaders in Brussels. Patrick Smyth reports how he used Ireland as a reference point for the social media group's commitment to Europe even as he apologised for past transgressions. Karlin Lillington welcomes the tougher line of questioning he faced than at similar sessions in the US congress.
Moody's has praised Ireland's recovery and does not even seem too concerned (yet) about our housing boom, writes Fiona Reddan. But its annual report on Ireland's sovereign rating also indicates that our debt dynamics make upgrades unlikely in the short term.
Sticking with budgetary matters, Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports that the Government may have as much as ¤1.3 billion for tax cuts and spending increases in the upcoming budget, somewhat more than previously thought, according to a briefing note supplied to the Oireachtas Budgetary Oversight committee.
The BJ Fitzpatrick jewellery business has received ¤23 million from Danish jeweller Pandora as it takes back control of the Irish arm of the Nasdaq-listed jeweller, writes Mark Paul.
Cliff Taylor writes that Italy's new government is playing a dangerous game of chicken with the markets over its expansive spending and tax plans in a move that is very likely to bring it quickly into conflict with the ECB and the European Commission.
In commercial property, Jack Fagan reports that the Comer brothers have secured ¤101 million for an office block they acquired for around €5 million five years ago.
And he also writes that a second hotel has just been developed at Denis O'Brien's PGA Catalunya Resort in northern Spain.
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