Job cuts at Microsoft; Pat Kenny’s planning setback; and the perils of gold fever

Microsoft Ireland has announced further jobs cuts, with up to 70 roles understood to be on the line as the company reorganises its business for the third time in the past year. Ciara O’Brien reports.

Pat Kenny has lost a battle against plans to site a five-storey nursing home next to his Dalkey home. The Kennys and some neighbours had objected to the scheme by Richard Barrett’s Bartra on the grounds that it would destroy the habitat of local badgers among other things. Gordon Deegan has the details.

A property development company has claimed in the Commercial Court that significantly understrength concrete was supplied for use in basement and ground floors of what it says will be an iconic office building near St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. It’s looking for €9 million in compensation; the supplier of the concrete says it only supplied €150,000 of concrete.

Also in the courts, Irish Gold and Silver Bullion Limited director Nicholas Wickham has been disqualified from acting as a director for seven years after a liquidator said he ram his business as a Ponzi scheme. The judge hearing the case said Mr Wickham was not honest with investors, his business model involved “repeated misrepresentation” to the firm’s customers and he presented a danger to creditors.

Helping offshore energy developers factor the impact on nature into their planning process

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Google Pixel 8a review: It follows predecessors by removing unnecessary features while still being useful

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Interruptions undermine workplace focus and productivity

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It seems an improbable odyssey for London to ever become the new Silicon Valley

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Tesla is now the most popular new car brand among Irish car buyers as almost a fifth of new cars registered in the State in the first half of 2023 were electric, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.

The Government may ask the public how best to police the crypto asset industry under a new EU-wide framework due to come into force next year, writes Ian Curran.

Activity in the Irish commercial property market slowed to one of the lowest levels on record in the second quarter, with Sherry FitzGerald blamed ongoing increases in borrowing costs. Colin Gleeson looks at the report.

When it comes to sustainability, we always assume it is younger generations prodding the rest of us to mend our ways but a new AIB survey says that only one in five 18-34 year olds is taking action to live more sustainably. Cash is a big hurdle obviously but just four in 10 people overall feel sustainability is really important to them. Colin has the details.

With energy costs rising just as people adapt to the new working from home or hybrid environment, you’d have thought there would be great interest in tax relief offered by Revenue against some of your work-related bills at home. That hasn’t really happened. Fiona Reddan examines why.

In our personal finance Q&A, we deal with one reader’s concerns that Revenue might force the sale of their home to meet a nursing home loan debt and another who has only just discovered tax relief on medical costs.

Dublin Bus says that higher costs associated with its Bus Connects expansion and increasing challenges in recruiting drivers were factors pushing the business to a modest pretax loss last year despite a sharp rebound in the number of passenger journeys. Ian Curran reports

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