Aer Lingus pilots halt industrial action

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The pilots dispute has seen more than 500 flights cancelled. Photograph: Barry Cronin for The Irish Times.

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The long running Aer Lingus pilots’ dispute may be heading towards a conclusion. Pilots union Ialpa halted industrial action late on Wednesday after it recommended its members accept Labour Court proposals aimed solving the row. Barry O’Halloran has all the details.

The Republic’s population is 180,000 bigger than what the Government anticipated as recently 2021, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has told the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight, as he defended the Government’s €8.3 billion budget plan. Earlier spending watchdog the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council had assailed the plan, warning it was not needed at present. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the story.

Smurfit WestRock, formed last week from the merger of Smurfit Kappa and US cardboard box-making peer WestRock, is likely to find it “challenging” to integrate both businesses and realise the $400 million (€370 million) of pretax cost synergies in its first full year, analysts at Bank of America have warned. Joe Brennan reports.

In her column, Karlin Lillington dismisses concerns about the end of corporate taxes being paid in Ireland by tech giants, and why US multinationals aren’t going anywhere.

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A High Court judge will give a decision next week in a widow’s injunction application against developer Greg Kavanagh and his company Beakonford Ltd over alleged trespass on the woman’s property in Ashford, Co Wicklow. Mr Kavanagh denies Oonagh Stokes’s claims of interference with land around her home, Inchanappa House, as part of the company’s plans to build 98 new homes on land it owns next to her property.

Samsung has moved to embed artificial intelligence even more deeply into its mobile devices, with new AI-enabled ear buds and smartphones. As Ciara O’Brien reports, the South Korean mobile maker also unveiled new wearables at its latest Unpacked event, including the Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch 7 Ultra, and the upcoming Galaxy Ring, which is expected to launch in Ireland later in the year.

The High Court has appointed provisional liquidators to businesses that operate 11 health food stores across Leinster. The businesses traded under the brand “The Health Food Store” across 10 stores and as “GNC” for one store. Aodhan O’Faolain was in court.

Plans for more housing at the former Irish Glass Bottle site at Poolbeg in Dublin have received a boost. Dublin City Council has granted planning permission to a Johnny Ronan RGRE-led consortium, Pembroke Beach, to construct 502 apartments across five separate apartment blocks ranging in height from six to seven storeys at the site. Gordon Deegan has read the plans.

The proportion of Irish home buyers opting for fixed-rate mortgage contracts has fallen, possibly in anticipation of further interest rate cuts. The Central Bank’s latest retail interest rate figures show fixed-rate contracts constituted two-thirds of mortgage contracts agreed in May. Eoin has the story.

Adjusted earnings surged at the budget travel group Hostelworld in the first half of the year, the company said on Wednesday in a trading update. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation jumped 88 per cent to €9.6 million, up from €5.1 million, in the six months to the end of June, the online travel company said. Fiona Keeley reports.

Cantillon looks at the ramifications of the Government’s plans to rein in the short term letting industry, as well as what former Aer Lingus and British Airways boss Willie Walsh has to say about cutting emissions in the aviation industry.

In Innovation, Olive Keogh meets the CEO of a company using its technology to make sure the good things from health supplements and fortified foods are actually absorbed into our bodies.

Superglue is one of those products that everyone has used at some point, but thinks little of unless they need it. As Neil Briscoe reveals though, there is huge innovation in train when it comes to adhesives, including at German firm Henkel’s Irish factories in Dublin.

“Your cloud storage is almost full” is a message more and more of us see on our phones these days, as photos and videos in particular grow in size. Here’s how to clean up your storage, and perhaps save from upgrading to the more expensive plan from the likes of Google or Apple’s iCloud.

Finally Ciara reviews the Emporia ME.6 smartphone and explains why it’s more than a simple smartphone for older hands.

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