Pressure on energy suppliers; Intel tests Fab 24; and Brianna’s tips for college students

Pressure on energy suppliers to cut prices will increase after the Central Statistics Office reported that wholesale electricity prices on international markets fell sharply in July and are now 64 per cent lower than they were this time last year, writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy.

Computer chip giant Intel has completed a crucial late stage of testing at its new Fab 34 facility in Leixlip, allowing it to move towards full production at the site before the end of this year. Ciarán Hancock reports.

A building company that claims it has lost at least €500,000 worth of contracts after “false and defamatory reviews” were posted on “hoax websites” has secured orders forcing the company that hosted the website to disclose any details it has about the identities of those who set up the sites.

As students prepare for a return to college, Brianna Parkins has advice for those trying juggle the delicate balance between insufficient finances and ever rising prices their essentials.

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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Looking back over the summer months, almost 620,000 foreign visitors stayed in Ireland in June, according to new airport data compiled by the Central Statistics Office, with the British being the most numerous, Europeans stay longest and Americans spending the most. Ellen O’Regan reports.

Shipping company P&O says it will have to stop operating its Dublin-Liverpool ferry service in a blow to Irish exporters as it cannot secure a berth in the Merseyside port from the end of this year, writes Barry O’Halloran.

Buoyant retail sales continue to drive economic growth, according to a “nowcast” produced by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), which uses real-time data to deliver a more up to date picture of the Irish economy. Eoin Burke-Kennedy looks at the figures.

Pub giant JD Wetherspoon says it is willing to limit the capacity of a beer garden attached to its hotel on Dublin’s Camden Street to 100 people or less in a bid to secure planning permission to erect a 43ft high sound barrier that has been dubbed a “Berlin Wall” by local residents..

Staying with the pub sector, a bar worker who told a member of management to “f**k off” after she was hit with a glass on St Patrick’s Day has been awarded more than €14,000 for unfair dismissal and other breaches of employment law. Fiona Magennis has the details.

The VHI has teamed up with AllView Healthcare to offer a telehealth dermatology services that, it says, will see patients in 10 days at a time when 43 per cent of the more than 45,000 people seeking appointments across the State are waiting for six months or more.

And in South Africa, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – known as the Brics and which control a quarter of the world’s GDP – say they are united in opposition to the dominance of trade and finance by the West. Bill Corcoran is in Johannesburg for us.

In her column, Sarah O’Connor says the national minimum wage has proved its worth. Through pandemics and war-driven spikes in cost of living, it has protected the most vulnerable workers from the worst impact of rising prices without triggering a wage/price spiral, she says.

In Commercial Property, which returns from a summer break, Ulster Bank is selling off the second tranche of its former branches. The free freehold and two leaseholds include the former Baggot Street branch for which it is seeking bids over €2 million. Ronald Quinlan reports.

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