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European shares were already on track for their best week since late April on Wednesday, gaining almost 1pc on forecast-beating growth data, rising metals prices and a weakening euro. US stocks were also set to open some 0.2pc higher, index futures suggested , Metals markets were buoyant, with the price of zinc, used to galvanise […]

House prices are set to rise by 15pc over the next three years, a survey conducted by the Central Bank has found. The survey of estate agents, auctioneers, economists and surveyors indicates prices will rise by eight per cent nationally this year. Dublin prices are set to rise by 10pc, the property professionals told the […]

‘Start small and make your mistakes while no one is watching’ – Chupi Chupi Sweetman, the Irish designer behind the jewellery brand ‘Chupi’ has been designing and creating since she got her first Singer sewing machine at the age of five. Now 32 she says that key to her success has been starting small and […]

E-commerce now accounts for 30pc of debit card point of sale transactions and almost one in two credit card purchases, according to the latest data from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI). Overall debit card point of sale transactions in Ireland were worth €2.9bn in June 2017, 16pc higher than the same month in 2016, […]

Eight in ten IT departments in Ireland are being held back from making investments in new technologies due to budget cuts, according to research from Sungard Availability Services. This figure is considerably higher than their counterparts in other countries including the UK and Canada, where 61pc said that they have been held back from making […]

The two-tiered nature of Ireland’s economic recovery has been highlighted again in a new commercial property report. The latest quarterly commercial property monitor from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) found that only half of members nationally believe that the property market is at the middle stage of an upturn. But that figure is […]

The average cost of running a car has fallen by €178.05 or 1.6pc on the same figure for last year, according to the latest AA’s calculations, bring the cost of running a family car for a year to €10,671.37. Despite a minor increase of 0.46pc in the cost of fuel, recent CSO data highlighting a […]

It has become the bane of many office workers’ existences: being forced to use complicated and difficult-to-remember passwords laden with random numbers and symbols. But the man who originally came up with the rules on safe passwords has admitted that his guidance was totally wrong, 14 years after it was first published. Bill Burr wrote […]

Almost three in four Irish companies have made changes to their IT security as a direct result of the WannaCry ransomware incident, according to a survey by IT solutions distributor DataSolutions. The research, carried out among 112 senior IT professionals and decision-makers, also found that one-fifth of senior IT decision-makers in Ireland would pay up […]

A big gap has opened up between the numbers getting approved to take out a mortgage and those who end up drawing one down. Experts said this reflects the chronic shortage of properties for sale. Banking and Payments Federation figures show that more than 8,000 people were approved for a mortgage than actually drew one […]