Business News

The vast majority of accountants are in favour of the auto-enrolment pension scheme the Government is planning to launch. Most private sector workers do not have an occupational pension. A survey by Chartered Accountants Ireland members found 96pc in favour of auto-enrolment. President of Chartered Accountants Ireland Shauna Greely said the picture emerging is grim. […]

Cerberus, the US distressed debt and private equity giant, has swooped on the stricken sub-prime lender Stepstone Mortgages in a near-€100m deal, according to sources. Dublin-based Stepstone, once a joint venture between the collapsed Wall Street Bank, Lehman Brothers, and IIB – an earlier manifestation of KBC bank – stopped issuing new loans in 2008 […]

Ireland needs to do more to attract experienced executives if it’s to maintain its position as a global leader in the aircraft-leasing sector, AerCap chief executive Aengus Kelly has warned. Speaking at the Euromoney Global Airfinance convention in Dublin yesterday, Mr Kelly said that personal tax rates continue to be an inhibitor to attracting talent. […]

Thousands of pensioners who are missing out on up to €35 a week because of an anomaly in the system are to be restored to a higher rate from March – but they won’t get the money until 2019. Ministers today approved a plan to appease older people who feel cheated by changes made to […]

Iceland has created 26 new jobs with the opening of its 20th store in Ireland. The food retailer opened the doors of its third store in Cork today, in the Eastside Retail Park, Main Street, Ballincollig. In 2017, Iceland announced that it had invested €12m into nine new shops, with more to be announced later […]

A rising tide lifts most boats, according to the latest International Monetary Fund forecasts, which saw upgrades for almost every major economy except the UK. In an update to its World Economic Outlook, the IMF lifted its global growth prediction to 3.9pc for both this year and next. That would be the strongest expansion since […]

Ireland has ranked eight out of the 29 advanced economies for inclusiveness, according to a report from the World Economic Forum (WEF). However the economic inclusion rate in Ireland has deteriorated. The report, which took into account the last five years, found that the 29 advanced economies included in the study have on average flatlined […]

Following what could be termed by many as a lost decade in a debt-laden eurozone, the medicine administered by the European Central Bank (ECB) has dragged the eurozone back from the brink, and ensured a smooth shifting through the economic gears. From a fresh position of strength, we expect growth in the eurozone to hit […]

Today the Government will unveil plans to enable local authority’s to provide mortgages to first-time buyers, but just who is entitled to apply and how much will be available? Who is entitled to apply for the local authority mortgages? First-time buyers that have had two insufficient offers or refusals for a mortgage from two lending […]

The European Central Bank’s tapering of its quantitative easing programme will not have a huge impact on the Irish economy, Fiscal Advisory Council chief Seamus Coffey has said. Despite the concerns of the Department of Finance and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Mr Coffey said a rise in interest rates could actually be […]