Author: splash

Consumer sentiment fell again in February, undoing some of the gains it made a month earlier. The Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to 70.2 in the month, down from 74.2 in January. The research’s author, Austin Hughes, said the dip in sentiment is not surprising as the gain in January was significant, but most […]

The competition to select a city to host the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Agency (AMLA) will get underway in Brussels today, with Dublin in contention along with eight other cities. Ireland is competing against eight other member states – France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania and Austria – to host the agency, which would […]

Ireland’s national debt continued to fall last year but remains one of the highest in the world at €42,000 per capita, the Department of Finance’s report on public debt shows. Only Japan, Belgium and Italy have higher levels of borrowings per person. The country’s gross public debt stood at €223 billion in 2023 down from […]

The vast majority of Irish tech start-up and scaling companies are deploying or preparing to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) according to a new survey. The research from Scale Ireland also shows that finance is still the biggest challenge facing indigenous founders. The 2024 State of Start-ups Survey reveals that 82% of respondents are deploying or […]

There has been a 71% global spike in cyber-attacks involving stolen identities according to IBM. Its latest X-Force Threat Intelligence Index found there was a growing trend in 2023 of cyber-criminals logging into corporate networks using stolen credentials as opposed to hacking into systems. The report is based on insights and observations from monitoring over […]

Mortgage lending at credit unions was up 15% in the last three months of the year, with the mortgage book now over €500m for the first time. The Irish League of Credit Unions represents 92% of the total active credit unions here. Its quarterly results show an overall increase in lending across all areas of […]

Lower income households are disproportionately hit by the effects of indirect taxes like VAT and carbon taxes when compared to those with higher incomes, a new analysis has found. The findings from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) report show that on average Irish households pay €151 per week in indirect taxes. Overall, this amounts to […]

A new report shows the level of small and medium-sized businesses who are interested in grants to help them invest in sustainable measures increased by over 40% in the past year. Uisce Éireann’s latest SME Sustainability Sentiment Survey also reveals that more than a third of SMEs see the availability of grants to offset the […]

The European Union’s new online safety rules come into full force today in Ireland and across the EU. The Digital Services Act requires online platforms to do more when it comes to removing harmful content and tackling the spread of disinformation. Companies face fines of up to 6% of global turnover for violating the rules […]

The cost to consumers in Ireland to deal with faulty goods and services last year was close to €1 billion, according to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). The commission calculated the figure based on initial financial outlays by consumers, additional charges added on, and the inconvenience of resolving problems. The CCPC is charged […]