On this week’s Inside Business with Ciarán Hancock we look at Aviva’s plan to re-enter the Irish health insurance market and what that might mean for consumers.
Will this deliver lower prices for hard pressed Irish consumers? Will it bring additional benefits in coverage? And is worth the hassle to switch for customers of VHI, Laya and Irish Life Health? To get some answers to these questions and more, Ciarán is joined on the podcast by Dermot Goode of Totalcover.ie, a Locktons Company, and an expert on Irish health insurance.
Also on the podcast, the Government published its Stability Programme Update. This is an update of budgetary forecasts provided to the European Union. It predicts a surplus for this year of €8.6 billion and a warning that the economy has slowed.
Cliff Taylor of The Irish Times has been through the document to break down the vast array of numbers and what they mean. How much of the budget surplus might be used to fund tax cuts or additional spending on key public services, given that €6 billion is earmarked for two sovereign funds?
Tesco generates full-year sales of €3.3bn in Ireland and posts double-digit rise in profit
Tara Mines received €3.8m in State aid even while it was mothballed
Court documents lay bare breakdown between Workhuman and private equity investor
In Washington, the peaceful transfer of power surprises a city boarded up for violence
Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.