Archive for June 2021

Representatives from the hospitality industry are due to hold talks with Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin. The Hospitality Forum, which includes hotel, restaurant and licensed vintner groups, meets ministers every three or four months. Today’s long scheduled meeting is timely as it will be the first…

The Government’s decision to delay the reopening of indoor hospitality has been met with an almost exclusively negative reaction from businesses and representative bodies. Today’s announcement did give some detail on what happens next for those affected – though it also left a number of questions unanswered. Here’s what businesses learned today: Indoor dining delay…

The number of people receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment has fallen to 227,982, a decrease of 16,215 over the last seven days. The Department of Social Protection said the payments issued this week were valued at €67.2 million. Following today’s Government decision to defer the reopening of indoor hospitality, the Government has extended the deadline…

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has said the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) deal that was signed off on by Agriculture Ministers across the EU is “a balanced CAP”. The Minister said it was the best agreement that could have been achieved after many months of really hard work and negotiation. Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime,…

New figures show the number of mortgages approved in May rose by 7.4% compared to the previous month, and were up almost 150% compared to the same time last year. Banking & Payments Federation Ireland said a total of 4,683 mortgages were approved last month. First-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for over half of the…

The Taoiseach has said the level of spending by the Government during the Covid-19 pandemic, is “not sustainable” and must “move to the next stage”. Micheál Martin made his remarks at the opening of the National Economic Dialogue (NED) which takes place online this year. The NED allows for various interest groups to raise their…

Employers’ group Ibec has forecast that the economy in Ireland will grow 6.5% this year driven in the main by strong exports. However, in its latest Quarterly Economic Outlook, it also predicts that unemployment will remain high at 15.6% in 2021, falling to 9.3% next year. The organisation thinks consumer spending will bounce back from…

Asking prices for houses nationally jumped 13% in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period last year, according to two separate reports by property websites Daft.ie and Myhome.ie. Both pieces of research also found that listed prices have risen at a much faster rate outside Dublin than in the capital. According…

The National Public Health Emergency Team is to meet on Monday to consider its advice to Government on whether or not to further ease Covid-19 restrictions from 5 July. The meeting means that Cabinet could take a decision on the issue on Tuesday. Taoiseach Micheál Martin is understood to have spoken with Chief Medical Officer…

The Chief Executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland has said that he has called for an urgent meeting with the Government to discuss speculation around a pause on reopening of indoor hospitality. Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Adrian Cummins said the Association “needs to know very clearly what percentage of the population needs to…