Russian assets in Irish funds; O’Brien’s links to oligarch; and another Dublin hotel to house asylum seekers

Irish-domiciled funds held almost €13 billion of Russian stocks and bonds as of last September, as the Moscow stock market peaked at a record high, according to Central Bank sources. While Russian assets accounted for about 0.3 per cent of the €4 trillion-plus of assets in Ireland's international funds hub at the time, their value has plunged since last Thursday, as the country became an economic and financial markets pariah after invading Ukraine. Joe Brennan reports.

Meanwhile, the profile of businessman Denis O'Brien has been removed from the website of LetterOne, the UK-based investment group founded by Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, who has been targeted by sanctions by the European Union over his alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Mark Paul has the details.

Following on from his story last week about the Holiday Inn at Dublin Airport, Mark reports today that Dublin's newest hotel, the 393-bedroom Travelodge Plus on Townsend Street, has also been hired exclusively by the State to accommodate people seeking asylum in Ireland.

Last Wednesday, Barry O'Halloran reported that Ardstone Capital was threatening Dublin City Council with legal action over what they claimed was a zoning mix-up in the capital's upmarket Ranelagh suburb. Today he reveals that the Council has said the decision was not a mistake.

Ranelagh rezoning ‘not a mistake’, says council

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EU says Irish lessors will be permitted to recover aircraft from Russia

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Some 80 objections lodged against build-to-rent scheme in Glenageary

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Mm Capital seeking €11m for Temple Bar Lane hotel

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Dominic Coyle reports that Novartis, the Swiss pharma group, has sold its major drug ingredient plant in Ireland.

In Commercial Property news, Cairn Homes has made a strategic return to the acquisitions trail with the purchase of three residential sites in Dublin, Kildare and Meath for €38 million from Tyrone-based developer McAleer & Rushe, Ronald Quinlan reports, while TikTok is understood to have agreed heads of terms on deals to rent two office spaces in Dublin city centre.

And finally, the argument against making sick pay more generous is that it is a cost to employers that might encourage workers to bunk off. But in a pandemic the greater risk is that people go to work when they shouldn't, Sarah O'Connor writes in her column today.