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Home Building Finance Ireland, which was set up by the Government to fund the delivery of new homes, has grown total loan approvals 13% to €3 billion at the end of June this year. HBFI’s H1 2025 performance update, published today, shows new loan approvals of €336m in the first 6 months of the year.…

Have you ever googled something but couldn’t remember the answer a short time later? Well, you’re probably not alone. Multiple studies have shown that “digital amnesia” or the “Google effect” is a consequence of having information readily available at our fingertips. It happens because we don’t commit the information to memory in the knowledge that…

New research from the Small Firms Association (SFA), shows that 9 out of 10 small firms are using artificial intelligence (AI) for one or more business processes. The most popular uses for AI were reported to be automation of simple tasks and data analytics reporting. The study found that the main barrier to deeper adoption…

Food prices are estimated to have risen by 4.6% over the last 12 months, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office. Food prices rose by 0.2% in the last month, the CSO added. The CSO today published a flash estimate for inflation which showed the cost of living has risen by 1.6% in…

A meeting of the Government’s Trade Forum will discuss the impact on Ireland of the EU-US trade deal. Officials from the Department of Finance are due to give a preliminary analysis of what impact the 15% tariff will have on the Irish economy. It is also expected that a joint statement could be issued today…

US President Donald Trump has imposed steep tariffs on exports from dozens of trading partners including Canada, Brazil, India and Taiwan, pressing ahead with his plans to reorder the global economy ahead of today’s trade deal deadline. He set rates including a 35% duty on many goods from Canada, 50% for Brazil, 25% for India,…

Electricity demand is set to grow by two thirds by 2050, a new report shows. This increased demand will be driven in the short term by the needs of data centres, according to the report by Pinergy and global insight business Wood Mackenzie. In the long term, it states that electricity demand growth will be…

Changing pensions rules to allow investments in private markets would benefit consumers and the country, according to the CEO of one of Ireland’s leading investment firms. With the pension auto-enrolment scheme set to come into place at the start of next year, the Irish pension sector is set for its most significant change in decades.…

Ireland has been ranked as the most competitive country in the euro area but the country has slipped back in its global standing. The latest annual World Competitiveness Rankings from the International Institute for Management Development reviewed 69 economies. It has listed Ireland as the world’s seventh most competitive economy in 2025, down from fourth…

Last week, the Government unveiled its ambitious National Development Plan (NDP) Review 2025, committing nearly €100 billion toward transformative infrastructure by 2030. While this represents a watershed moment for Irish development policy, the nation’s track record on infrastructure delivery remains deeply problematic. Complex procurement processes, bureaucratic bottlenecks and protracted planning procedures routinely stall critical projects.…