Mortgage to Rent scheme gets reboot, Aer Lingus and pilots pay, and how deferring taking State pension at 66 could cost you money

Australian bank Macquarie, two other private-sector groups and two approved housing bodies have been selected by the Government to offer mortgage-to-rent solutions for lenders and borrowers dealing with loans that have no prospect of being repaid, as part of a reboot of the scheme. Joe Brennan has the details.

Aer Lingus says its 8.5 per cent pay offer to pilots takes account of a deduction to fund the cost of a 2019 agreement around extra summer leave. The pilots union counters that they have not had a pay increase since 2019, while the cost of living has risen by 19 per cent over that period. Barry O’Halloran reports on the latest twist in this pay talks standoff.

If you’re due to turn 66 in the near future and are thinking of taking the Government up on its offer to defer drawing down the State pension for the promise of a higher one when you’re 70, be aware that new rules on PRSI could cost you a lot of money. Fiona Reddan explains why in our personal finance big read. If you’d like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money, the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.

On the same topic, Dominic Coyle explains how a quirk in the PRSI rules could see employers looking to persuade older staff not to defer taking the State pension while also wanting them to continue working.

IDA gives Intel €30m in aid package

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Insurance board’s Rosalind Carroll: ‘Soft tissue neck injuries are not coming as they would have before’

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An attempt to buy the next election with a giveaway budget would be a gross miscalculation

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The outlook for interest rate cuts is changing - so should Irish borrowers be worried?

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In our second Q&A of the week, a reader was shocked recently to find that their daughter’s student accommodation landlord wants her to sign a contract for the next academic year for 51 weeks, which would summer weeks when college students traditionally either head home or go travelling. Dominic Coyle offers a view on what he sees as sharp practice.

Toy Show the Musical: Why did nobody in RTÉ listen to the concerns of Person 6? Laura Slattery examines the evidence from a recent Grant Thornton report into the fiasco.

Contrary to expectations, the new year has offered no respite from job lay-offs in the tech sector, writes Cantillon.

Cantillon also notes how peace has broken out between Ryanair and some of the online travel agents that it went to battle with last year. The airline published its third quarter earnings on Monday.

Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland’s chief executive of less than six months, Gerard Casey, has hired a former senior Bank of Ireland executive and made some senior internal appointments as his puts his stamp on the wealth management and stockbroking firm in a bid to double revenues within five years. Joe Brenna has the details.

Achieving Ireland’s 2050 offshore wind energy targets could be worth at least €38 billion to the economy and generate thousands of jobs, according to an analysis that also warns this could be undermined by skills shortages. Kevin O’Sullivan reports.

Drug company Eli Lilly has become one of the 10 biggest US companies while its rival Pfizer suffers a post-Covid hangover, notes Stocktake.

An overwhelming majority of investors in Irish companies believe reporting on sustainability performance tends to contain unsupported claims, a new global survey by PwC has suggested. Ian Curran has the details.

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