Homes for sale at 14-year low; retailers deliver on Covid; and a welcome clearout of normality

The number of homes on sale in Ireland is at a 14-year low, according to the latest survey by Daft.ie. That has helped prices record their biggest quarterly jump in over five years, writes Mark Paul, but there is no sign of an exodus to the country as people increasingly work from home.

Figures from some of Ireland's largest retailers suggest Covid-19 is not as big a problem for store staff as for the general population. The details come as the Government considers tighter Covid restrictions that could close many such retailers down ahead of the critical Christmas period.

Seamus Mulligan, one of Ireland most successful serial entrepreneurs in the life sciences sector is backing Galway cancer cell therapy group ONK Therapeutics for the second time in six months as part of its latest $8 million fundraising.

Shamrock Rovers have turned their balance sheet around with the help of Dermot Desmond's €2 million purchase of a quarter share in the club. New figures from the club show it had returned to the black just ahead of the funding. Mark Paul reports.

Covid-19 has shown that much of ‘normal’ life should have been binned years ago

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Number of houses for sale falls to 14-year low

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Irish retailers are not hotbeds of Covid-19 infection, figures suggest

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Covid-19: Businesses that survived first lockdown may not survive a second

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The new normal is a very different place , writes Pilita Clark, but it has highlighted how we should have binned much of what we took for granted in our lives years ago.

And Chris Johns also has an eye on Covid. In the great debate over the relative economic cost of locking down versus living it up, he says those looking for another lockdown need to explain how it – and what happens after – will be any different to last time. But whether we're happy with suppression or going for zero Covid, without a proper test, trace and isolate regime, all we will get is chaos and a devastated economy.

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