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EY Ireland settlement, Aer Lingus bags still missing and homes snarled in planning system

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Anglo Irish Bank’s former auditor EY Ireland has agreed to pay a multimillion-euro amount to settle the case

Peter Flanagan's face
Peter Flanagan
Thu Jan 26 2023 - 05:58

Anglo Irish Bank’s former auditor EY Ireland has agreed to pay a multimillion-euro amount to settle a long-running case over its failure to uncover the habit of the lender’s former chairman, Seán FitzPatrick, of moving loans off its balance sheet at the end of accounting periods before the financial crash. Joe Brennan and Ellen O’Riordan have the story.

The Irish Stock Exchange, now known as Euronext Dublin, hasn’t seen an IPO in more than a year. Joe reports on the businesses efforts to attract new listings.

Months after chaos across the aviation industry, Aer Lingus is still dealing with around one in 100 claims for lost baggage against the airline that date back to last summer, according to the company. Barry O’Halloran has the story.

Employers’ group Ibec has told an Oireachtas the Government should delay the introduction of a mandatory workplace pension until after the next election. Dominic Coyle has the details.

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Also at an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday was Central Bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf was accused on Wednesday by members of the committee of deserting holders of more than 100,000 mortgages that banks sold to overseas investment funds in the wake of the financial crisis, as many deal with above-the-odds interest rates of as much as 7 per cent. Joe was watching.

Joe also reports that an Irish-led so-called blank check company that floated in New York two years ago has decided to liquidate itself after failing to secure a follow-up deal following the collapse of an agreed $1.74 billion (€1.76 billion) tie-up last the summer amid volatile equity markets

The legacy of the crash continues to linger: there are still 75 so-called ghost estates left over from the 2008 property crash, according to the Department of Housing. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports.

Staying with housing, loan approvals at Home Building Finance Ireland, the government agency charged with funding the delivery of new homes, have increased by 49 per cent, new data has shown. Ciara O’Brien has the details.

And on the same subject, Dominic Coyle has seen a new report which suggests as many as 45,000 homes are stuck in the planning system with more approved but yet to start construction.

Ciara also reports that Irish invoice-financing company Accelerated Payments is poised for further growth after it advanced €1 billion of invoice finance to businesses around the world.

In her column, Karlin Lillington writes that while the death of email has been proclaimed again, it’s not going to happen any time soon.

Cantillon casts an eye over the crypto industry, and questions claims by some in the sector that bitcoin’s recent rally is a sign of better times to come, while queries why the Government could miss housing targets at a time when the shortage of homes is arguably the most important matter in the State.

A decade after selling a stake in Suretank to a private equity firm, founder Patrick Joy has bought back a two thirds stake in the Irish manufacturer. Barry has the story.

Recent controversy about data centres in Ireland hasn’t out off Amazon from investing here. Gordon Deegan reports the company has lodged plans for three new data centres at its data centre campus to the north of Mulhuddart in north Dublin.

Gordon also reports that An Bord Pleanála has given permission to Kennedy Wilson to construct a new office campus at St Stephen’s Green in Dublin that will have the capacity to accommodate 3,000 office workers.

In Innovation, Chris Horn looks Chat GPT and the awesome potential of AI, while Olive Keogh reports on a new harness to stop energetic dogs taking off on their leads.

Finally, Ciara reviews the latest MacBook Pro line and if they’re worth their hefty price tag.

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