Business News

Investors snapped up the sale of €1.25bn of government debt yesterday underscoring the robust demand for Irish bonds amid growing unease over the French presidential elections and receding hopes of any imminent change to the European Central Bank’s monetary policy. Yields for nine-year paper sank below the rate achieved for similarly dated debt in last […]

You may not have noticed it but you are living through an economic miracle – apparently. The chief economist of the Central Bank, Gabriel Fagan, introduced the country to a new economic term last week called a “Phoenix Miracle” which is how he described Ireland’s rapid economic recovery since the depths of the recession. Among […]

The unemployment rate is due to fall below 6pc by the end of this year, according to updated Government forecasts. The Department of Finance yesterday published the so-called Draft Stability Programme Update, outlining the Government’s projections for the economy, which will be sent to Brussels for approval later in the month. The Government is expecting […]

The Central Bank said it was considering imposing new rules on banks to make it easier for mortgage-holders to switch to another lender to reduce the cost of their repayments. The regulator said research it commissioned found that just 4pc of borrowers had moved their mortgage to a new lender. Now the Central Bank is […]

Providence Resources has announced losses of €20.5m for 2016 while operating losses for the period were €18.8m, an increase of €5.7m from 2015. In June, the oil exploration company raised $70m in a share sale in an effort to reduce the company’s debt. The company had no net debt at the end of 2016; in […]

There has been a record number of data privacy complaints in Ireland over the last year, new figures from the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner show. The regulator reported a spike in overall complaints last year to a record level of 1,479, rising from 932 in 2015. However, it also received almost 35,000 “queries”, […]

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan has indicated that he won’t block Bank of Ireland offering more than the €500,000-a-year pay cap to attract a replacement for outgoing CEO Richie Boucher. The pay cap was brought in after the crash and has not been relaxed, even at Bank of Ireland which has repaid its State bailout. It […]

No European country has made a claim on the back taxes that Apple allegedly owes to Ireland, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said. Mr Noonan has argued that Ireland’s entitlement to the money, in the face of potentially competing claims from other EU countries, remains uncertain. The European Commission announced in August last year that […]

The Central Bank has revised up its growth forecasts on the back of strong domestic demand despite citing the twin threats of Brexit and the potential economic policies of US President Donald Trump. Chief economist Gabriel Fagan lauded the economy’s performance and said it had all the hallmarks of the ‘Phoenix Miracle’ – the theory […]

High-profile publican Frank Gleeson has secured a temporary High Court injunction preventing the company he is CEO of from taking steps to dismiss him. Mr Justice Paul Gilligan granted Mr Gleeson an interim injunction yesterday preventing Dublin pub group Mercantile Entertainment from dismissing him. The order also prevents Mercantile taking any steps to discipline Mr […]