News

You could shave hundreds of thousands off your mortgage by switching lender, writes Louise McBride Homeowners can save tens of thousands of euro more by switching mortgage today than they would have had they switched a year-and-a-half ago. A series of interest rate cuts by some of the country’s main banks – along with the […]

The interest on the national debt is costing each worker in the State €3,400 in tax per year, the head of the National Treasury Management Agency has revealed. That compares with €900 in 2007, NTMA chief executive Conor O’Kelly said. The debt pile is €207bn, the equivalent of €102,000 per employee, he added. “That is […]

The state is expected to get €275m from the liquidation of the former Anglo Irish Bank by the end of this year, according to the best estimate of liquidators Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson. The special liquidators hope to pay an interim dividend of 25pc to all unsecured creditors by the end of 2016. But […]

A British exit from the European Union would be a serious risk to global economic growth, Group of Seven leaders said in a summit declaration on Friday, although German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the issue had not been discussed. The statement will be welcomed by the British government, which has made a series of warnings […]

Oil has surged about 80 per cent since dropping to the lowest since 2003 in January Brent crude rose above $50 a barrel for the first time in more than six months as a drop in US stockpiles accelerated a rebound from a 12-year low after global disruptions trimmed the market’s glut. Futures rose as […]

Rise came as average weekly earnings across economy rose by 1% – CSO Average weekly earnings in the financial, insurance and property sector rose by almost 7 per cent to €1,161.75 in the first quarter of the year, when compared to the same period 12 months previously. New data from the the Central Statistics Office […]

STATE forestry agency Coillte generated profits last year of €47.6m, two thirds more than the previous year. The company paid a dividend to the State €5m. Last year saw the company agree the sale of land in Ballymahon in Co. Longford to holiday resort company Center Parcs, a deal that was the catalyst for €230m […]

PROPERTY prices nationwide rose again last month as a shortage of homes to buy continues to push up values. Dublin led the charge upwards, but there was a fall in prices outside the capital city. Prices across the State were up 0.3pc in the month of April, and have now risen by 7.1pc in the […]

Ulster Bank is to offer more than 900 distressed home loans to so called vulture funds, as part of a sale aimed at clearing the decks of the bank’s boom era problem assets. The sale of €2.5bn of distressed business loans (65pc), buy-to-let mortgages and owner occupier mortgages is aimed at substantially clearing out all […]

Royal Dutch Shell will increase the number of job cuts in 2015 and 2016 by around 20pc to at least 12,500 as a result of low oil prices and the integration of BG Group, it said on Wednesday. The Anglo-Dutch company will reduce the size of its UK and Ireland oil and gas production, or […]