All executive director appointments at publicly quoted companies in the Republic over the 18 months to September 1st were filled by men, while the rate at which women are being appointed to any position on company boards has slowed down. Laura Slattery reports on the findings of a survey by the Government-backed Balance for Better Business group, which also found that a target for all publicly quoted companies to have at least one woman on their senior leadership team by the end of 2020 will be missed, with almost two in five retaining all-male senior leadership teams.
Irish consumers believe the worst of the pandemic is now "firmly behind them", which will translate to a "solid if unspectacular" Christmas period in terms of consumer spending, according to the latest report from KBC Bank Ireland. Colin Gleeson has the details.
Sounding a more cautious warning, however, the Central Bank has said there could be "significant implications" for the economy after raising concerns that consumer savings accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic may not be spent in the hardest hit sectors when public health measures are lifted.
A new package of EU legislation aiming to rein in tech monopolies and end illegal content online includes proposals that would allow the European Commission to step in to enforce rules on major multinationals directly if Irish authorities have not acted effectively, reports Naomi O'Leary. The proposals would apply to all member states, not just Ireland, but are widely viewed as reflecting frustration in Brussels and other member states at a perceived soft touch by Irish authorities towards the major US tech multinationals that have headquarters in the country.
The announcement came following the news on Tuesday that Twitter had been fined ¤450,000 by the Data Protection Commission for a data breach, the first time the regulator has penalised a Big Tech company under European GDPR rules, a fine that some consider too low to be a deterrent.
A consortium led by Dogpatch Labs has been confirmed as the winner of a €17 million five-year contract to manage start-up accelerator programmes around the country on behalf of the State. Charlie Taylor has the details ahead of the Government's announcement today.
A small number of activist investors in Aryzta saw through the completion of a boardroom overhaul at the Swiss-Irish bakery group's annual general meeting (agm) at its headquarters near Zurich yesterday, which was held behind closed doors. The development means the company is less likely to accept a €734 million takeover offer from US hedge fund Elliott Management, Joe Brennan writes.
In her Money Matters column this week, Fiona Reddan asks why the Central Bank is moving so slowly with its efforts to combat differential pricing in the insurance market.
In the print edition of today's Irish Times, we have a bumper end-of-year review edition of Commercial Property, with even more articles online, leading with the top 10 deals for this most extraordinary of years - investment turnover is on course to come in at around €3 billion, with the sale of prime offices and private rented sector apartment portfolios leading the way.
The end-of-year review also carries expert analysis across all sectors of the commercial property market, and gives an assessment of the year gone by and the year to come for the investment market, offices, the residential private rented sector, development land, retail, hotels, industrial and logistics, the sub €20 million investment market, and digital property sales.
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