Mortgage switchers muted; records at hotels giant Dalata; and the fatal attraction of air travel

Switching activity in the mortgage market has more or less collapsed, according to the latest Banking and Payments Federation Ireland data, released this morning. Overall, mortgage approval volumes in March fell by 1.2 per cent year-on-year, though they were up 33.8 per cent compared to February, with first-time buyers more dominant than ever in the market, writes Laura Slattery.

A separate survey shows the majority of renters are failing to apply for the rent tax credit. Problems with landlords are the single largest reason for walking away form a free €500.

Hotels group Dalata told shareholders at its AGM that it has raised its forecasts for the year and says revenue per available room is 28 per cent ahead of pre-Covid rates so far this year.

Rising costs hit profit at State forestry group Coillte even as revenues hit a record €479 million, writes Barry O’Halloran. Despite softening demand from the building sector, the group will pay the State a dividend of €27.7 million.

WestRock to provide more detail on Smurfit deal

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Professional make-up artists help executives keep up appearances

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Housing Commission’s analysis of the crisis paints a mammoth challenge but falls down on one glaring contradiction

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Fewer meetings, more memos: the future of asynchronous work

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Ireland’s accounting regulator has fined and severely reprimanded two former auditors of the Irish unit of Wirecard for “serious” shortcomings in their audit work on the German payments company that collapsed in 2020.

Only one person has objected to Diageo’s €200 million brewery plan for outside Newbridge. The objector, from Athy, also in Kildare, argues that it should instead be built in ... Athy ... on environmental grounds, writes Gordon Deegan.

Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment told shareholders at its annual general meeting that it cannot guarantee its shares will continue to trade on the Irish Stock Exchange after it takes a secondary listing in New York.

The move comes as CRH told its shareholders that it was now de facto a US company, explaining the decision to move its primary listing, which was announced earlier this year.

Sticking with corporate news, SSE Airtricity has said it will give all its domestic customers in the Republic a €35 household credit against their bills, as it forgoes €8.6 million of its profits for its 2023 financial year. Ian Curran has the details.

Air travel has made the world much smaller, argues John FitzGerald, meaning that the emigrant experience is not as final a rupture as it used to be. But that facility of travel and the difficulty in creating rules across international boundaries means it is likely to be the last bastion of fossil fuels.

Jameson has got itself into hot water over its resumption of supplies into Russia while the war in Ukraine continues. But parent Pernod Ricard argues it is trying to take care of staff while respecting sanctions. Jack Power has the story.

In World of Work, Olive Keogh takes a look at the power of informal workplace training and how it might be one of the areas most badly affected by the Covid pandemic and the big shift to working from home.

Arthur Beesley examines the history of one Dublin site and reflects on how it represents the chaos and complexity of the post-crash property market.

Finally, standing in for John Burns argues that the fashion for eye-popping executive pay rewards luck, not managerial wizardry, and he argues against share-based payments except for exceptional performance.

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