John Corrigan and IAIM; Varadkar and inflation; and Eir and sports rights

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Davy chairman John Corrigan is stepping down as chairman of IAIM in a move the body says is unrelated to the Davy controversy. Photograph: Collins
Davy chairman John Corrigan is stepping down as chairman of IAIM in a move the body says is unrelated to the Davy controversy. Photograph: Collins

John Corrigan, chairman of Davy, is stepping down as chairman of the Irish Association of Investment Managers in a move the body says it not linked to the turmoil at the embattled stockbroker. Arthur Beesley reports on the development.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Leo Varadkar, has said the Republic must be prepared for a rise in interest rates that could make the State's vast borrowing for the pandemic more expensive. Mr Varadkar said a period of inflation was "overdue", write Mark Paul and Martin Wall. The Tánaiste also warned of a danger that cities could be "hollowed out" by wide-scale working from home or "blended" arrangements after the pandemic.

Eir has said it will not take part in the latest rounds of sports rights auctions, citing fundamental changes to the commercial model for subscription-based sports broadcasters. The decision creates significant uncertainty for the group's paid sports service, Eir Sport, with Eir saying it is "exploring options" for its future.

Bank of Ireland has signed up as the main sponsor for the Irish Times Business Awards, write Ciarán Hancock. The awards celebrate excellence and outstanding achievement among business leaders in Ireland.

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In a big read, Mark Paul takes a look at the growing pressures faced by the large swathes of the economy that have barely traded for a whole year. He speaks to a number of players who are looking ahead to the conditions that might emerge when the economy reopens and to what sort of help businesses might need to survive.

John FitzGerald focuses in this week's column on what workplaces might look like in a post-Covid world and how that might affect the rest of society. How will a return to city working affect house prices, for example, and what about the environmental impact of people mostly working from home in semi-distant locations but commuting long distances in cars once or twice a week?

Joe Brennan today goes about unpicking events at the company formerly known as Dolphin Trust, which attracted cash from close to 2,000 Irish investors between 2012 and 2019 but now looks to offer extremely limited prospects. In better days, Dolphin Trust brochures highlighted generous tax incentives for buyers of refurbished buildings in Germany, or apartments within them.

In his Caveat column, Mark Paul considers what lessons the pandemic might hold for governments as they seek to hit the European Union's 2030 emissions targets. He suggests significant economic and social strife could lie ahead.

Olive Keogh in our Work section examines the role of leadership in the workplace, noting that the organisations that have best weathered the pandemic storm are those where leaders grasped the reality of the situation rather than downplaying it.

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Úna McCaffrey

Úna McCaffrey

Úna McCaffrey is Digital Features Editor at The Irish Times.