Seen & Heard

Central Parcs' Irish move
Central Parcs, the UK holiday village operator, is to resurrect plans to move into the Irish market, chief executive of the group, Martin Dalby, has told the Sunday Telegraph .

Owned by the private equity group Blackstone, Central Parcs was in advanced talks with the Irish Government about a move here prior to the onset of the economic crisis. Now it looks set to return to the project, according to the newspaper.

Dalby said there were positive economic indicators in Ireland and that he would start a search next year for a site that would attract visitors from both the Republic and Northern Ireland.

“By the time we get round to going to Ireland again, their economy will be in a much stronger position ,” he said.

€2bn to public servants
The State has paid out more than €2 billion in tax-free lump sums to retiring public servants since it started to reduce the size of the public service five years ago, according to the Sunday Business Post .

The figures were compiled from replies to parliamentary questions and official budget data, according to the newspaper, which also reported that the National Asset Management Agency is to call in the personal borrowings of the businessman Harry Crosbie.

Workers demand €70m

Workers at Bord Gáis have asked the company, and New Era, the body overseeing the sale of State assets, for a payout of up to €70 million from the proceeds of the sale of Bord Gáis Energy, according to the Sunday Times . This amounts to €72,000 each for the 900 members of the employee share-ownership plan.

Coulson joins Harvest

The businessman Paul Coulson has joined the board of the British fuel company Harvest Energy, according to the Sunday Independent . The move comes a bout six months after its parent went through a restructuring that saw the State-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation write off debt of €64 million. The businessman Denis O'Brien is a shareholder in Geneva Holdings, a former parent company of Harvest Energy and is on the board of the latter company, the newspaper said.

Who makes most bread?

Owen Killian, the chief executive of bakery goods business Aryzta, was the highest-earning executive of an Irish listed firm last year, earning €15.5 million in pay and bonuses, according to the Sunday Independent . His salary was €3.85 million but when bonuses were added his income in 2012 was the equivalent of €42,000 per day.

New rules for State tenders
Construction firms and other employers winning State contracts will have to hire 10 per cent of their workers directly from the unemployment ranks under new rules being drafted by the Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton.

The Sunday Times report s that Ms Burton is preparing to press cabinet colleagues to add "social clauses" into tender documents for key public contracts.