Media merger; commercial property loophole closes; and planning for 2018

Consolidation looms in Irish media as The Irish Times buys Landmark Media - parent of the Irish Examiner, the Evening Echo and a number of regional titles and radio interests. Ciarán Hancock has the details of the deal that still requires clearance form three separate entities.

The budget is still not done with and tax advisers are scrambling as the Government moved to close a loophole in the Finance Bill that would have allowed buyers of commercial property avoid the trebling of the rate of stamp duty on such deals to 6 per cent. Cliff Taylor reports on an unusual move in the Seanad.

One51 is on course for a mid-2018 stock market flotation is conditions are right after an extraordinary meeting of shareholders approved measures easing the path to an IPO. As part of the exercise, the business will today change its name to IPL PLastics, writes Barry O'Halloran.

Barry will also be reporting online this morning from the annual shareholder meeting of troubled bakery group Aryzta. Investors will have their first face-to-face with the company’s new management after a major reshuffle in the past year. News this week that up to €84 million will be raised by the sale of La Rousse Foods to Musgrave and a special dividend from frozen foods interest Picard has seen the share price rise but much remains to be done.

EU Commission seeks €500bn economic crisis fund and finance minister

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Ireland reaches 820 hotels in bumper year for sector

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Look out for Euro-Asian invasion into commercial property

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Why can’t our booming tech sector bin the babble?

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Elsewhere Peter Hamilton reports on a new technology platform that will help online retailers dodge the onerous chore of dealing with returns. The Michael Smurfit-backed CleverGift allows people to buy gifts but then enables recipients to select colour and size before dispatch. The Irish business is looking to raise ¤2 million to advance its business.

Peter also looks at the plight of motorists still caught up in the Setanta Insurance collapse. More than 1,500 of them are still waiting to have their claims settled more than three and a half years after the business failed.

In technology, Kevin O'Sullivan says faster-than-expected cuts in the cost of renewable energy generation and storage means the motor industry is once again asking whether hydrogen could really be a fuel for the future.

And Marie Boran forecasts that the day when your digital assistant anticipates much of your behaviour and your needs is much nearer than most of us think, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence

But technology is only as good as its operators. Karlin Lillington is aghast at the glibness of a number of MPs in Britain coming to the defence of "deputy prime minister" Damian Green. Green, who is in trouble over pornography on his work computer, claims many people had access and his fellow Tories are rushing to disclose that they too share passwords and access with all comers to their office – even short-term interns. Ouch.