Archive for August 2021

Most companies on both sides of the border are firmly in recovery mode as Covid-19 restrictions ease, according to InterTradeIreland’s latest quarterly business monitor. Three quarters of all businesses are now operational, indicating a return to economic momentum, while over half of SMEs in the tourism and leisure sectors have re-opened their doors. Growth is…

Financial and health imperative will be to invest in vaccinating the entire world The northern hemisphere is sweating through a second long summer of Covid-19. As the Delta variant gains ground in the US, Europe and even China, the contours of the global economic challenge are now clear. Libertarians and statists should lay down their…

The Cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 will meet today when it is expected to discuss updates to hospitality industry guidelines on outdoor events. It follows questions raised over an event hosted by former minister Katherine Zappone in a Dublin hotel last month and subsequent advice from the Attorney General. Fáilte Ireland is the State agency charged…

Irish food and drink businesses are experiencing inflationary pressures across most cost headings, according to Food Drink Ireland (FDI) the Ibec group representing the food and drink sector. FDI surveyed member companies in July to assess the extent and impact of input cost increases. It found that these increases were due to a combination of…

Inflationary pressures evident in latest purchasing managers’ index data from AIB Irish service sector companies reported the strongest month-on-month growth in business activity in July since August 2000 as lockdown restrictions eased further and the Health Service Executive’s vaccination programme accelerated. The latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI) survey data, published by AIB, shows new services…

A group representing workers in the nightlife sector has criticised the Government’s response to its reopening, warning that a continued shutdown will result in an upsurge of unregulated events. In a letter to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Arts, the ‘Give Us the Night’ campaign said its industry is the only remaining one without…

The chief executive of AIB has confirmed that the bank will be extending negative interest rates to all customers with deposits in excess of €1 million from later this year. At the moment, AIB levies negative interest rates on personal customer deposits in excess of €3 million and on business customers with deposits greater than…

Irish service sector companies reported the strongest growth in business activity since August 2000 in July, according to the latest AIB PMI survey. New business expanded at the fastest rate since January 2016, while incomplete workloads rose the most in over two decades despite faster workforce growth. The latest survey data also signalled rising inflationary…

The Minister for Finance has started the process of selling the State’s shareholding in Bank of Ireland. According to a filing at the London Stock Exchange, the Government’s stake in the bank has fallen from 13.95% to just below 13%. Paschal Donohoe announced in June that he intended to start the process of selling the…

The number of people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is just under 163,400 this week – the lowest level since the pandemic began. The number receiving the payment dropped almost 29,000 on last week, as people returning to work closed their claim. This week, the Department of Social Protection issued weekly payments valued…