News

Paying for items under €30 in shops can now be done by swiping your mobile phone against a contactless terminal. Google is launching Android Pay in Ireland today, meaning those with Samsung, Sony and other Android phones can now pay for items in stores by swiping their phones. The system will work anywhere that accepts […]

Unemployment in Ireland is now at its lowest level in almost eight years, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The latest data shows that the number of those on the live register has now more than halved since the peak of the crisis back in 2012, when unemployment hit a […]

The Central Bank has issued a stinging criticism of the way risk is managed in some Irish stockbrokers, investment firms, and fund service providers. The bank said it had found “notable inconsistencies and deficiencies” in the way firms managed risk. It did not name individual firms but said it was following up with companies where […]

Thousands of people who are due to renew their health insurance in the next few weeks have been warned to act now to avoid huge increases in the cost of cover. Up to 400,000 people are due to renew by the end of January. But most insurers have imposed double-digit rises in the cost of […]

Long queues at the supermarket could soon become a distant memory after Amazon unveiled a grocery store without tills or barcode scanners. The internet retailer has opened a grocery store in which shoppers only have to scan their smartphone upon entry, with purchases automatically charged to a credit card when they leave the store. The […]

Property agent Savills Ireland is predicting rises of 7pc to 10pc for retail property rents by 2018, notwithstanding the recent slowdown in the sector. Savills’ latest quarterly Market in Minutes Ireland Retail report says a “notable softening” in short-term indicators, including retail sales, VAT receipts and consumer sentiment, is driven by economic and political uncertainty […]

Irish manufacturing output picked up in November, with the pace of export growth in particular accelerating. The data, showing the fastest growth in eight months, suggests Irish industry is adjusting relatively well to the big swings in the currency market since the June Brexit vote. In contrast, British manufacturing growth cooled unexpectedly in November as […]

A new strategy aimed at promoting Ireland as a whiskey tourism destination will be unveiled this week. The campaign, which has national and local government support, is targeting massive tourism growth, building on the 653,277 tourists who visit an Irish whiskey distillery each year and increasing this figure to 1.9m by 2025. The Irish Whiskey […]

When a recovery begins, and as consumers loosen their personal purse strings, companies tend to have existing employees work extra hours and overtime rather than taking on new people. That is because the cost invested in the hiring and training of new staff could be lost if the upturn peters out and the newly employed […]

A new €70m funding package that will allow small Irish businesses to borrow specialist equipment and vehicles at a lower cost has been announced. SMEs can avail of a 1.57pc discount for specialist machinery as part of the scheme from the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) and FEXCO Asset Finance. The product offering from […]