Author: Practicenet

Household debt is now at its lowest level since 2005, and is over 30pc lower than its 2008 peak, according to the latest accounts from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI). During the three months to 30 June, household debt fell by €0.9bn to €141.7bn, which equates to 141.6pc of disposable income. Meanwhile household investment […]

One of the country’s biggest employers of new graduates has been forced to introduce interest-free loans to help new recruits secure rental accommodation in Dublin. The country managing partner at accounting and advisory giant EY, Mike McKerr, has told the Irish Independent that his firm is providing the interest-free loans on flexible terms to graduate […]

Q – I run a butcher shop and while I have ample parking at my shop, lots of people in the area still don’t know I am here, how can I increase awareness? A – We can talk about the practical marketing tools you can use in a moment, but I want to reflect on […]

There is a “huge opportunity” for Ireland to be at the leading edge of the emerging cyber-security industry, Tánaiste and Enterprise Minister Frances Fitzgerald told delegates at a leading industry conference in Dublin yesterday. The cyber-security industry employs around 6,000 people here, and the top five worldwide security software companies have operations in Ireland, Minister […]

Sterling has jumped to a four- and-a-half month high against the euro amid stronger manufacturing data out of the UK. It comes ahead of a much anticipated Bank of England meeting today in which governor Mark Carney is expected to announce the bank’s first interest rate rise in a decade. The pound hovered above the […]

Working from an island, as exporters do in Ireland, forces us to be more competitive than companies in markets we sell to. Products and services that businesses develop here must offer customers more value than those of competitors. Irish exporters can’t just be good, they must be better. Last month, a milestone in achieving that […]

Eurozone economic sentiment rose in October for the fifth consecutive month to reach its highest level since the start of 2001, showing almost no impact from the Catalan crisis, according to European Commission data. The near 17-year high is the highest reading since January 2001 when the bursting of the dot-com bubble had begun to […]

he value of any currency can, and does, fluctuate over time due to the many economic, fiscal or political vagaries that face any economy, and in turn their domestic currency. The outcome of certain ‘risk events’ can have a material impact on the value of currencies, dependent on the outcome of said events. The aftershocks […]

More than half of Irish businesses expect a cyber attack on their operations by the end of 2017 while 36pc have already experienced one this year, according to the results of a new survey. And significantly, 84pc of businesses see potential attacks as a major threat to their operations, according to the Dublin Information Sec […]

How to deal with the Border issue post-Brexit looks increasingly intractable. Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has argued we are on the cusp of agreement on maintaining the Common Travel Area, which will ensure the free movement of people north and south. But maintaining current levels of cross border cooperation and integration, and ensuring the tariff-free […]