Facebook owner Meta is set to start laying off staff globally today, in a move which may have severe implications for Ireland. The owner of WhatsApp and Instagram, employs about 3,000 staff in Dublin, and has around 6,000 contractors here.
With Meta’s expected cuts following last week’s lay-offs at Twitter and Stripe, the jobs crunch in the tech sector is worrying for Ireland Inc as well as the staff at risk of being made redundant. Yet as Cliff Taylor writes, it comes after years of dramatic growth in the industry here.
Staying with tech jobs, Ian Curran reports on Minister of State for Local Enterprise Damien English’s admission that the Government is still largely in the dark on the severity of the cuts at Twitter.
Still, one investor appears to remain confident in the tech sector: in Commercial Property Ronald Quinlan reports that the family office of Zara founder Amancio Ortega is set to buy Meta’s Dublin 4 HQ for about €550 million.
Wages are growing at almost twice the rate pre-pandemic, Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports, as inflation and a shortage of staff squeeze firms. The research from the Central Bank and jobs site Indeed.com show some sectors are seeing much greater acceleration.
It’s one of the most recognisable landmarks for folks heading to an event in the RDS in Dublin, and now the Royal Dublin Society itself is buying St Mary’s Church in Ballsbridge. As Ciaran Hancock reports, the RDS plans to use it in its renovation of the wider venue.
In his column, Martin Wolf argues that combating climate change requires huge, immediate, investment. It’s difficult to fault his argument.
Goldman Sachs bought up swathes of loans tied to property here in the years after the crash a decade ago. Now, Mark Paul has seen the accounts of three Goldman Sachs entities which show a lot of cash generation, and not a lot of tax paid.
Companies will get an extra year to comply with key reforms of occupational pension arrangements, Dominic Coyle reports. The move comes after months of warnings from the industry that there was not enough capacity in the sector to transfer all the companies that should do so into new master trust arrangements.
Caffeine fiends across Dublin may be in mourning, now that Starbucks has closed its location at the former Anglo Irish Bank HQ on St. Stephen’s Green. Ian Curran tells us why it’s shutting its doors.
Aer Lingus received about €56 million euros in Government covid supports, as it swung to a €339 million loss. Even with travel very much back on the agenda, as Barry O’Halloran reports, it still isn’t matching its pre-pandemic profits yet. Barry also has the details of Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary’s latest share sale, which has earned him more than €6 million.
Ulster Bank has long signalled its plan to start freezing accounts that haven’t been moved elsewhere from early November. Now it has confirmed that plan will proceed, even after Central Bank warnings that the process of moving accounts to other Irish lenders has been too slow. Dominic has the details.
Staying with banking, the Government has cut its holding in AIB to about 57 per cent, Joe Brennan reports, raising close to €400m for State coffers after its latest share sale. Joe also reports that Bank of Ireland is to off load about €1.5 billion worth of problem loans as it continues to clean up its balance sheet.
And while we’re on the financial sector more generally, Ken Foxe reveals that more than 300 Central Bank staff earn more than €100,000 per year.
The Aughinish Alumina plant in Limerick is a big local employer, and a big producer of hard-to-dispose-of waste. A local environmental group’s move to issue High Court proceedings to overturn planning permission for the plant to increase disposal capacity at the Limerick refinery.
New research has shown that Northern Ireland is the poorest performing region in the UK for productivity. Colin Gleeson has the story.
Ciara O’Brien reports on conglomerate DCC’s earnings, which saw operating profit rise 13 per cent in the first half of 2022.
Louis FitzGerald is one of the best known publicans in the country, but as Gordon Deegan reports, he has lost out on a seven-year, €400,000 tax dispute with the Revenue Commissioners.
Jones Engineering was taken over by a US firm earlier this year. Before the deal, it increased its dividend to about €47 million. Gordon has seen the accounts.
Gordon also reports on Dunnes Stores’ failure to prevent a seven-storey student accommodation scheme for Galway city securing planning permission.
Also in Commercial Property, Ronald has the details of MKN’s quest for an operator for its planned hotel near Dublin’s north docks, while foodies will note Ronald’s report that the owners of Il Valentino has purchased Queen of Tarts in central Dublin.
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