Around 350,000 people in Ireland had to resort to licensed moneylenders last year, writes Fiona Reddan. The number emerged as the Central Bank started consulting on tighter rules to protect borrowers.
At the other end of the scale, Ibec chief executive Danny McCoy warned that Ireland is in danger of pricing itself out of the market, saying that the erosion of our competitiveness was happening at a faster rate than during the Celtic Tiger. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.
The EU will unveil plans to day to fill the post-Brexit hole in its budget. Options include a ¤50 billion raid on the profits of the ECB and a new plastics tax.
Permanent TSB has deferred a decision on whether it will withdraw up to €900 million in split mortgages from the pool of non-performing loans it is selling following indications that the ECB might now considering them as "performing". Joe Brennan writes that the lender is waiting for official confirmation of that position.
Joe also reports that the original shareholders in IPL Plastics, the former One51, will see their majority position disappear with the company's planned €125 million flotation of the company on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Another Irish company, Intercom has joined the ranks of the unicorns – startups worth more than $1 billion – following its latest fund-raising, writes Ciara O'Brien
In his column, Ciarán Hancock weighs up the options for Independent News & Media as it faces the prospect of an inspector being put into the company by the corporate enforcer, while Fiona Walsh reports from London on the nail-biting battle for troubled engineering group GKN.
Jack Fagan reports that two large sites close to the Intel plant in Leixlip have come to market – one zoned for residential use and the other adjoining one for industrial.
