News

Undeterred by objections to a proposed data centre campus in Dublin, Amazon is looking to build yet another data centre in the capital. The planned 88,500 sq ft data centre – which could cost as much as €45m – will neighbour another Amazon data centre on a site in Tallaght, in the south of the […]

Irish SMEs are writing off €1.7bn every year due to bad debts, according to a new report. Bibby Financial Services said the firms are losing the money due to customers not paying bills, or customers becoming insolvent. The Global Business Monitor report from the firm found that an average of €13,780 is written off every […]

Heather Humphreys has said she won’t rush into a decision to relax the work-permits regime to let in low-skilled workers from outside Europe. The Business, Enterprise and Innovation Minister said that while her department is carrying out a review of the employment permits system as the economy booms and unemployment falls, she does not want […]

Irish households have never been better off and now have a combined €4bn more of savings than they owe in debts. The total amount of loans owned by households has fallen by €60bn since the start of the crash, thanks to debt repayments, write-offs and to the slowdown in the new mortgage market, according to […]

A PRESSURE group is set to launch in the coming week to fight for changes to ensure lower insurance costs for businesses. The Alliance for Insurance Reform is set to be revived a decade-and-a-half after it was successful in bringing about huge changes. The venture is again being spearheaded by Supermac’s owner Pat McDonagh, amid […]

A leading Irish supermarket has confirmed it will pay all staff the so-called ‘living-wage’ of €11.70 an hour. German supermarket retailer Aldi has the new minimum rate of pay for its Irish staff. The rate of pay matches the living wage rate recommended by the Living Wage Technical Group, and makes Aldi the first supermarket […]

The number of people employed in multinationals has reached a record high of over 210,000, the IDA has said. The figure for 2017 surpasses the overall five-year target of 209,000, which was set in 2015 as part of the agency’s strategy out to 2019. The number of new investments totalled 237. Some 19,851 new jobs […]

The services sector has enjoyed a strong finish to 2017, according to the latest Investec Services PMI Ireland report. The headline PMI strengthened to 60.4 in December, an eight month high, from November’s 56.0 outturn. Any mark over 50 is deemed growth. The improvement appears to have been domestically-driven, as the new export orders component […]

The tax take for last year reached a record high of just over €50bn. The State took in €2.87bn more in taxes last year than had been initially expected. The figures were further boosted by the one-off sale of AIB shares, according to the Exchequer Returns published last night. The State’s tax income is now […]

“Mega” offshore wind projects off Ireland’s coast will require increased investment in the country’s port infrastructure, according to a Dublin-based consultant engineering group. GDG (Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions) is currently working with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland on a gap analysis designed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the offshore renewable-energy supply chain […]