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Ireland is set to receive the biggest share of the €5 billion EU Brexit fund, after a provisional agreement was reached today. Ireland will get over €1 billion of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR), which is aimed at countries and sectors worst hit by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The Netherlands, France, Germany and…

New figures from the Central Bank show that the number of homeowners in mortgage arrears for more than 90 days fell to 5.2% at the end of March, from 5.3% three months earlier. The number of home mortgage accounts in arrears fell by 2,838 in the first three months of the year, mainly as a…

The price of residential property increased by 4.5% in April, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. This compares to an increase of 3.5% in March and an increase of 0.7% in the 12 months to April last year. Prices were slower to rise in Dublin, with an increase of 3.5%, while…

Small and medium Irish employers are warning that the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is acting as “a significant brake” on returning workers in certain sectors of the economy and should be “tapered” faster than currently planned. Neil McDonnell, the CEO of Irish Small and Medium Enterprises (ISME), told an Oireachtas Committee that this is affecting…

The food service market here will not return to the levels it was at prior to the Covid-19 pandemic until the end of next year, according to Bord Bia. The Irish food promotion board says that the prolonged lockdown in the first half of this year and gradual reopening has meant the recovery has been…

The number of people receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment has fallen to just over 267,000 – a decrease of almost 18,000 over the last seven days. The drop in claims reflects the continued reopening of the economy, with 24,000 people closing their PUP accounts last week to return to work. Including this week’s payments of…

A dilemma is a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives. It is precisely what is facing a vast cohort of tenants and would be home-owners here all over Ireland. House prices and rents have both already started to rise and as the nation recovers from lockdown…

The European Union has excluded some of the biggest investment banks with past involvement in breaches of antitrust rules from syndicated debt sales backing its up to €800 billion Covid-19 recovery fund, the EU executive said. “The Commission will be undertaking a careful assessment of whether the primary dealers found guilty of breaching anti-trust rules…

Paolo Gentiloni, EU Commissioner for Economy, has said the EU’s commitment to the Good Friday Agreement is “unwavering”. Commissioner Gentiloni made his remarks in an online address to the Institute of International and European Affairs this afternoon. He said this was why the Northern Ireland Protocol was agreed “by both sides…both with their eyes wide…

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the volume of cars on Irish roads has been rising slowly since the start of the year after the move to Level 5 restrictions in December. Volumes have been rising more rapidly since travel restrictions lifted in May, the CSO said. The easing of travel restrictions…