Customers are facing electricity bill hikes of more than €150 a year to fund major upgrades to the power grid, the Business Post writes. Businesses and households would pick up the cost as part of major grid investment plans that have been submitted to the energy regulator by both ESB Networks and EirGrid.
The costs are in addition to any bill arising from Storm Éowyn repairs which was mentioned last week by ESB chief executive Paddy Hayes.
Developers summoned on house building fall
Senior Department of Finance officials called developers into private meetings in recent weeks to explain a significant fall-off in house building last year, the Business Post reports. The meetings took place after official figures showed there was a 6.7 per cent cent decline in the number of new homes built in 2024 to 30,300, well short of the Government’s 40,000 target.
Xerotech on the brink
Xerotech, which makes batteries for industrial users and is seen as one of the State’s rising technology stars, is set to go into liquidation this month after a fire that disrupted a critical fundraising, the Sunday Times reports. The move would imperil more than €40 million of funds put into the company which was an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist last year by investors.
Xerotech, which is based in Claregalway, Co Galway, employed 130 people. Founder and former chief executive Barry Flannery, who resigned from the company’s board late last year, is reported to have taken an unfair dismissal case against the company.
Glencore mulls Pallas Green sale
Global mining powerhouse Glencore is reported to be weighing a sale of its Pallas Green zinc deposit in Co Limerick, the Sunday Independent reports.
The newspapers says local industry sources believe that the Swiss giant is once again seeking a buyer for the undeveloped mining prospect, which could hold 45 million tonnes of zinc ore.
Industry figures say that there is renewed international interest in the Republic. “Last week’s upbeat new drilling results from Group Eleven, the Canadian exploration company that owns the Ballywire zinc, copper and silver prospect adjacent to Pallas Green will also be seen as a positive for Pallas Green’s potential,” says the Sindo.
CRH subsidiary backs 3D home builder
CRH subsidiary Roadstone has struck a deal with Harcourt Technologies that will allow the 3D printing home builder to significantly expand its operations, the Business Post reports. Harcourt delivered three homes forLouth County Council using 3D technology imported from Denmark as part of a pilot project. Chief executive Justin Kinsela says the Roadstone deal could allow the business acquire machinery to 3D print close to 1,000 homes a year.
Weight loss drug available only on private prescription
Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug Mounjaro will be available in Ireland a week from now, but only for patients paying privately for the medicine, the Sunday Times writes. Mounjaro is seen as more effective in treating weight loss among obese patients that Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy.
The HSE and the National Centre for Pharmaeconomics have yet to make a decision on whether the medicine, priced at €215 for a month’s dose, will be available to public patients or through the Drug Payment Scheme.
Alltech and O’Hara’s in talks
That newspaper also reports that Alltech, the agri group founded by the late Dr Pearse Lyons, is working on a deal with the maker of O’Hara’s beers, that would secure the future of its Dundalk, Co Louth brewery.
A spokeswoman for Alltech tells the newspaper that the company is “working on a collaborative agreement” with Carlow Brewing Company that would guarantee supplies of that company’s beers.
She notes that the pair’s relationship dates back to 2012. The Carlow company produced the first run of Pearse Irish Whiskey for Alltech.
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