Mainstream abandons Japan project, First Republic rescue; and getting to grips with tax debt

Mainstream Renewable Power has pulled out of a Japanese wind power project just a year after first investing in the plan, saying it wanted instead to prioritise more advanced offshore projects and opportunities across Asia and in European waters. Barry O’Halloran has the details.

Over in the United States, JP Morgan Chase has acquired the bulk of First Republic bank after US regulators orchestrated a weekend deal to shut the embattled California lender, wiping out its shareholders in the second-biggest bank failure in the country’s history.

Businesses with tax debt warehoused by Revenue have been told to act now or risk liquidation in a year’s time when the deadline for settling the special Covid pandemic relief passes.

Inflation and issues with securing and retaining labour are the leading threat to most Irish food businesses, according to a new survey, but almost all SMEs in the sector are confident about future growth prospects.

Sony WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds: another leap forward in quality and comfort

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Technology developed in Cork allows wedding photos to be shared digitally with the happy couple

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Scope for budget tax cuts and cash for households is limited - this will be a difficult pre-election package to agree on

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We are at last creating AI approaching human intellect but the underpinnings are insubstantial

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Laura Slattery takes a look at the media coverage of the upcoming British coronation and says BBC has a struggle to ensure it stays relevant to an audience that is no longer as aligned with royalism as it used to be while fending off attacks from the UK government and the monarchist wing of Fleet Street, ever keen to attach it for any traces of disrespect.

Weak demand saw manufacturing businesses slow production last month, making it the second in a row - and the fourth in the last six - where activity in the sector contracted, according to purchasing managers’ index data published this morning.

In Personal Finance, Fiona Reddan looks at consumers’ banking options now that Ulster Bank and KBC have effectively left the market.

And in Q&A, a reader asks what their options are if a neighbour starts working on unauthorised development close to their home.

Finally, the groups behind a proposed wind farm on the Codling Bank off the Wicklow coast have announced a €500,000 fund for the local fisheries industry to develop ways for the two industries to work together.

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