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The pound slipped slightly this morning, but remained close to six-week highs it touched on the previous day after news that stalled Brexit negotiations were due to resume.  Sterling rose by as much as 1.7% against the dollar yesterday after the European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said that an EU-UK deal was “within reach”.…

Britain has sovereign choices to make on Brexit and they will determine its future access to the EU’s internal market, European Council President Charles Michel has said. He suggested it was now up to the British government to break an impasse on negotiations. “The UK now has an important choice to make on its own future,”…

RTÉ is to make immediate arrangements to reinstate previously frozen incremental wage increases to affected staff, after accepting a recommendation of its internal Industrial Relations Tribunal. Earlier today, the IRT ruled that the broadcaster had been wrong to impose a unilateral freeze on increments, which unions argued was unfair as it had a disproportionate impact…

HALF of those claiming the pandemic unemployment payment will get a €50 increase in their payment bringing it to €350 a week. A total of 122,000 people will benefit from the hike in payment from next week. The top rate at the moment is €300 a week so the increase will mean they get an extra…

Senior European Union officials have said the EU is ready to intensify talks towards a deal on future trade ties with the UK after a meeting to discuss the existing Brexit agreement. European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said that Britain had much work to do to honour commitments on the island of Ireland. He said…

Retailers have reacted with deep disappointment to the Government’s decision to close all non-essential retail as part of the move to Level 5. Retail Ireland described it as a serious blow and said there is very real concern that many vulnerable retail businesses will not survive. Business reaction to last night’s move by the Government…

Ireland is ranked in 14th place out of 39 countries in the 2020 Mercer Global Pensions Index despite the country’s underlying sustainability issue.  The Netherlands topped the index again this year despite significant pension reform currently under way there, but Ireland came ahead of countries such as Belgium, the UK, France, Spain and Austria.  Mercer…

Jobs were always going to be centre stage in Budget 2021 – not just creating new ones, but clinging on desperately to the imperiled ones that already exist. The figures cited by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe in his budget speech were stark. The Government is forecasting a total loss of approximately 320,000 jobs in…

Taoiseach Micheál Martin will join other EU leaders in Brussels this afternoon for a two-day summit in which they will assess the prospects for a breakthrough in the Brexit negotiations. It will be the first time in nearly a year that EU leaders will have taken part in a detailed discussion about the future EU-UK relationship.…

As Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan move to Level 4 in the Living with Covid-19 framework, business owners, service providers and consumers will be wondering what is allowed to stay open and what must close. Here is a list of all the retailers that the Government has deemed “essential” and can remain open. 1.  Outlets selling food, beverages or newspapers on a…