News

Growth in the Irish manufacturing industry slowed to a near three-month-low in May, new figures have shown. According to the latest Investec Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), the headline figure of growth slowed to 51.5, its lowest since July 2013. The drop in growth is as a result of general weakening in demand with the […]

Latest official figures points to annual decrease of 38,300 or 1.8 per cent Unemployment has fallen to a new post-crash low of 7.8 per cent as conditions in the jobs market continue to improve. The latest official figures show the number of workers classified as unemployed fell by 1,500 to 169,700 in May. This equated […]

Prime rents for shops on Henry Street in central Dublin have increased 14pc on the past year, as the retail market continues to show signs of improvement. Property agent CBRE say the outlook for the retail sector is steadily getting better, and that is feeding through to demand for shops in strong locations around the […]

Ireland has shot up a global ranking measuring competitiveness. The country has surged from 16th place last year, to seventh now, according to the latest analysis from the Swiss-based IMD World Competitiveness Center. Ireland is considerably ahead of the UK in 18th place, which flies in the face of criticisms made by businesses that Britain […]

The latest recession in the oil sector has thrown up some truly remarkable business paradoxes. Imagine, if you can, a company which suffers a $200bn plunge in revenues and sees its operating profits collapse by 93pc. Imagine that company surviving such a life-threatening trauma but being resilient enough to get stuck into the acquisition of […]

Tech giant Amazon is to create 500 new jobs in Dublin over the next two years as the firm bids to up its European headcount. Amazon, which is headed up by Silicon Valley chief Jeff Bezos, is looking to add data centre technicians, software engineers, and customer support staff. The announcement is part of the […]

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 […]