Seen & Heard

A consortium of Irish food producers, farmers and machinery suppliers is seeking backing for a €350 million investment to re-establish sugar production in Ireland.

The Sunday Times reports that Beet Ireland has appointed financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald as it prepares to raise funding for a sugar and ethanol plant in “the south midlands”.

The newspaper states that negotiations on a site for the factory are nearing a conclusion.

Self-employed workers will not be able to get tax clearance certificates if they do not pay the new property tax, according to the Sunday Business Post. The paper reports that the Revenue has been granted authority to veto tax clearance certificates for individuals who are found not to have paid the new tax.

John Gallagher, executive chairman of the Doyle Hotel Group, is understood to be involved in a proposed deal to buy the four-star River Lee Hotel in Cork from developer Owen O’Callaghan. The Sunday Independent reports that Nama will have to approve any transaction.

The Sunday Times reports that Primark is in talks to buy Independent House on Dublin’s Middle Abbey Street with a view to expanding its adjacent Penneys store on O’Connell Street.

The building was bought for €26 million in 2003 by a company controlled by developer Paddy Kelly. It was expected to fetch €6 million when it went on the market last year.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing for a million-pound share sale, according to the Sunday Times.

The UK taxpayer-backed bank has reportedly told executives to have the business primed and ready to sell shares by the fourth quarter of 2014.

The paper states that this will be just months before the next election in Britain.

The Sunday Telegraph reports that RBS is also planning to reduce the size of its investment bank by as much as £30 billion and cut hundreds more jobs as it attempts to head off growing government pressure to close down the controversial division.

The bank is due to announced its full-year results for 2012 on Thursday. The Telegraph reports that analysts at Investec expect RBS will announce a pre-tax loss of as much as £4 billion.

The Department of Finance now estimates it will take until 2030 for the Insurance Compensation Fund to repay the State for bailing out Quinn Insurance.

According to the Sunday Business Post, the department now estimates that the fund will be in a position to begin repaying the money in 2015, and that it will take between 12 and 15 years to repay the full amount.

The State, which advanced upfront money to the fund to cover losses at Quinn Insurance, imposed a 2 per cent levy on motor and home insurance customers to repay the money.