Ireland’s educated IT professionals, the Lynn case continues, and Dundrum apartments hit objections

Ireland’s IT professionals are the most educated, the most productive and the best paid members of the workforce, the CSO said in a study of the sector. But, writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy, it also drew attention to the fact that women are dramatically underrepresented in the sector.

Two bankers accused former solicitor Michael Lynn of lying in evidence he gave in his trial on charges of the theft of €27 million from seven banks about meetings with them and secret deals allegedly hatched for improperly processed mortgage loans.

More than 700 local residents, businesses and groups have objected to plans by UK developer Hammerson for an 881-unit apartment scheme on the old Dundrum village shopping centre, including a 16-storey tower block. Gordon Deegan sifts through the documents.

Real wages, allowing for the impact of inflation, fell in Ireland in 2021 but tax on that income increased, according to a new report from the OECD. Its Taxing Wages reports said tax on labour in Ireland during the pandemic – as measured by the tax wedge on a single earner between 2019 and 2021 – rose faster than in all other OECD states bar Luxembourg and Israel.

It was an up and down day on the jobs front with PayPal announcing it was cutting 307 jobs from its 2,300-strong Irish workforce without really being able to say why, and Apple announcing plans for an expansion of its Hollyhill campus in Cork that could ultimately accommodate another 1,300 people on site. Elaine Keogh and Ciara O’Brien report.

Ryanair is pursuing online travel agency Booking.com in a US court for allegedly “screenscraping” and then reselling its fares at a mark-up without the airline’s permission. Mark Paul has the details.

Poland and Hungary continued to block progress on two key EU ambitions – imposing an embargo on Russian oil and approving plans for a minimum15 per cent global corporation tax rate – at a meeting of finance ministers yesterday. Naomi O’Leary was there for us.

At the annual World Economic Forum, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg cautioned delegates not to trade freedom for freedom to trade, adding that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline debacle was a “key lesson” for Europe and that countries should be wary of allowing China control 5G networks. Joe Brennan is in Davos for The Irish Times.

He also tuned in to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who said Russia’s blockading of Ukrainian ports was a weapon of war with global repercussions. The Kremlin was using “hunger and grain to wield power”, she said, adding that “global co-operation is the antidote to Russia’s blackmail”.

And OECD boss Mathias Gorman who told the high powered audience that it was in the interest of countries to implement a global corporation tax deal agreed last year, even as the deal encounters stumbling blocks in both Europe and the US.

Former Canadian premier, Brian Mulroney, was in Dublin, arguing that for all its failings, multilateralism had produced overwhelming positive results when compared to the alternatives, particularly in areas of trade and climate change. He also told Eoin Burke-Kennedy that Brexit was to blame for the difficulties in securing approval for the new CETA EU trade agreement with Canada.

In Commercial Property, the former Wright Venue nightclub in Swords – since redeveloped and now known as South Quarter Airside – is on the market for €17.25 million, writes Ronald Quinlan.

And CBRE is bringing two former Sean Quinn pubs in Dublin – the Barge on the Grand Canal at Charlemont Street and J W Sweetman on Burgh Quay in the city centre – seeking €7 million eight years after they were offered to the market at €5.5 million.

Ronald also has details of a site at Cookstown Cross in Tallaght, with planning permission for 208 homes which is on the market at €8.5 million.

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