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The Minister for Finance has said that scaling up the vaccine programme is key to the re-opening of the economy and that is happening now with 170,000 vaccines planned for this week. Paschal Donohoe said that re-openings in March and April happened and in the coming weeks and months the delivery of vaccine targets will…

Ulster Bank, Bank of Scotland Ireland, Rabobank, Danske Bank, and more. There have been plenty of lenders who have dipped their toes in the Irish banking sector, only to discover in recent years that the temperature of the water is not to their liking, and disappear. And now it seems one more may be about…

Brexit trigged a major reduction in cargo volumes at Dublin Port in the first quarter of this year, while Covid-19 also hit passenger numbers. The Dublin Port Company said today that its trade volumes fell by 15.2% in the first three months of 2021. The main driver was a decline in freight from British ports,…

A report on pensions has found that fees and charges are so high that over time they are wiping out the tax relief given to pension savers by the State. The findings have led the Labour Party to draw up legislation that would force pension providers to be more transparent about charges. Labour finance spokesman…

The National Treasury Management Agency has raised €3.5 billion through the sale of a new 20-year bond. The bond, which matures in April 2041, was sold at an interest rate of 0.585%. The NTMA said it received orders worth more than €35 billion as part of the sales process. It brings to €10.5 billion the…

The price of residential property nationally rose by 3% in February, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. This compares to an increase of 2.6% in January and a 1% increase in the 12 months to February of last year. Prices were slower to rise in Dublin with an increase of 1.2%.…

Trade with Great Britain continued to decline in February, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. Imports of goods from Britain were down €742m, or 53%, in February compared to February last year. This was an easing on the 65% year-on-year fall in January when new post-Brexit trade barriers came into force.…

New figures show that digital advertising spend in the Irish market reached €726m last year, up 8% compared to 2019. The latest IAB PwC Online Adspend report shows that online display advertising grew 12% to €367m in 2020, with social and video the primary drivers. Search advertising grew by 5% to €321m. The figures show…

The Government has formally authorised the Low Pay Commission to investigate how Ireland can move towards a living wage, and must report in the second half of this year. Last year’s Programme for Government committed to move the wages floor from the current national minimum wage of €10.20 per hour to a living wage of…

The International Monetary Fund has said Europe’s economy should rebound this year but recovery across the region remains uneven. The IMF is also calling for a “new social contract” to address inequality. In its Regional Economic Outlook for Europe published today, the IMF forecasts that growth this year will be 4.5%. This is slightly less…