Germany delays closure of nuclear reactors, search and rescue issues, and do clicks count?

Consultants who advised on part of the State’s search and rescue tender shared directors with a potential bidder for the contract, it has emerged. Accountants KPMG hired aviation consultants Frazer-Nash early last year to advise on preparing the business case for the Government’s tender for the Republic’s search and rescue service. Barry O’Halloran has the details.

Germany postponed its departure from nuclear energy on Monday, announcing plans to keep on as an energy reserve two final reactors that were due to go offline by December. With Russian gas shut off via the Nord Stream pipeline, and criticism mounting over a €65 billion cost-of-living relief package, federal economics and energy minister Robert Habeck insisted Germany has a “high level of energy supply security”. Derek Scally reports from Berlin.

The global crisis that has sent Irish energy prices soaring is not a “one-winter deal”, Bernard Looney, chief executive of oil giant BP warned on Monday. Leading Irish energy suppliers announced price increases last week set to add hundreds of euros to household bills as Russia halted gas exports to Europe indefinitely, writes Barry O’Halloran.

Companies crowing about the brilliance of their advertising strategies is hardly news but they are rarely keen to admit that something isn’t working. When it comes to digital advertising, however, there’s a growing willingness to admit that clicks — the metric by which digital tends to be measured and sold — might not count for much, writes Bernice Harrison.

Sewage crisis: why this UK election is being fought on – and in – rivers and lakes

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Hubristic Woodford was the orchestrator of his own downfall

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Despite what people may think, taxes in Ireland are low compared to Europe

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China’s view of the world puts Ireland between a rock and a hard place

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“We bought our house not long before the mortgage lending limits for first-time buyers kicked in, and I’ve genuinely no idea how people in our circumstances can aspire to live in Dublin. It’s crazy, frankly, that a successful record of meeting rent isn’t taken on board when you’re trying to scrape together your 10 per cent (or 20 per cent!) of a deposit.” Gavan Reilly, co-presenter of The Group Chat on Virgin Media Television talks to Me & My Money.

A family member incurred a capital loss of €150,000 selling a house in 2012 purchased in 2005. Would that family member have had to complete a tax return showing that capital loss back in 2005 in order to carry it forward to 2023, for example, if they had a chargeable capital gain in that year? Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions.

It was first introduced back in 2012 but, some 10 years on, a Government supported scheme, which aims to help distressed borrowers remain in their homes has had limited take-up. Despite recent enhancements, the numbers availing of the mortgage-to-rent scheme remain low. What is going on? Fiona Reddan reports.

Cantillon wonders why is an Irish State agency Europe’s busiest venture capital investor? Our resident sage also looks at how the ECB is gearing up to tackle soaring inflation.

Businesses are worried they’ll be forced to front-load high energy payments to finance temporary electricity generation this winter. On our Inside Business podcast Cliff Taylor speaks to Ibec’s chief economist, Ger Brady, about the implications for the sector and the economy as a whole, in the event of rolling blackouts and The Irish Times’ Barry O’Halloran reports on the diverging views of the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities and operator Eirgrid, at yesterday’s Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action.

Plus, The Irish Times’ Fiona Reddan also looks at what domestic measures may be announced in the upcoming budget to ameliorate the situation facing households. And we take a look at what tax and spending changes might be made in the areas of housing, social welfare, income tax and once-off payments.