Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said he is “optimistic and positive” the Irish economy will navigate its way through the current economic challenge and will not go into recession. Speaking to Martin Wall in Washington where he is attending the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said the most likely scenario is “low economic growth as opposed to no economic growth or recession”, though he admitted there were downside risks to that scenario.
And it’s not just the Minister. More than two-thirds of chief executives in Ireland share his view that Ireland will avoid recession over the next year, according to the KPMG Irish CEO Outlook. That compares to 86 per cent of global business executives who do expect a recession in their home markets, writes Laura Slattery.
Tracker mortgages are back in the news and, in the High Court, Ulster Bank says the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman has failed to show how it breached consumer rules and behaved improperly when he ordered the lender to put three mortgage accounts on tracker rates. Joe Brennan was in court.
Swiss drug group Novartis is cutting up to 400 of 1,000 jobs at its Dublin operation as part of an effort to save $1 billion in costs. Ireland will suffer more dramatically than the group-wide cutback of around 7 per cent, writes Ian Curran.
A new economic report published by the Central Bank says the Covid pandemic may have triggered a permanent decline in the use of cash. But it notes that cash remains widely-used in Ireland and throughout Europe. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports.
There was some modestly good news on the economic front with inflation falling back for the second month in a row. CSO figures published yesterday show an 8.2 per cent rise in the consumer price index over the past year. Though still high, that is down from 8.7 per cent in August and 9.1 per cent as recently as July, writes Ian Curran.
Eoin Burke-Kennedy meanwhile reports that the rate of house price growth moderated again in August to an annual rate of 12.2 per cent, down from 13 per cent the previous month as interest rate rises and the rising cost of living hit home. In Dublin, the figure dropped back to single figures at 9.7 per cent.
Hawkeye was suspended after a couple of controversial incidents at GAA championship matches this year but the company behind the technology is on a winner, reporting a trebling of profit for the year to March, helped by fast-growing use of its VAR technology in football. Gordon Deegan has the details.
The operator of Ireland’s Center Parcs holiday resort has enjoyed average weekly revenues of more than €1.1 million this year as it is once again allowed to operate at full capacity after two Covid-disrupted seasons.
John FitzGerald says Ireland will need a substantial forestry programme, to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere if it is to achieve the goal of net zero emissions of greenhouse gases. But it will never happen unless the EU relents on the current over-bureaucratic approach to forestry licensing
In Agenda, Barry O’Halloran looks at what betting giant Flutter is doing in advance of the introduction of a new regulatory regime on gambling in Ireland. Paddy Power’s parent group says it is spending more than €100 million a year on safer gambling initiatives in Ireland and Britain.
In World of Work, Olive Keogh writes that gratitude goes a long way to keeping workers onside even when times are tough. The secret is to make sure it is genuine and sounds like it.
Finally Caveat looks at the battle-wearied staff at Twitter as they face up to the re-emerging prospect of life under Elon Musk.
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