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Tourism enjoys rebound, MABS and banks join forces, and what to do if separated spouse wants to sell family home?

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

How should we spend our largesse?

Conn Ó Midheach's face
Conn Ó Midheach
Tue Jun 6 2023 - 06:37

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A tourism boost drove growth in services, a key employer in the Republic, last month, figures published on Tuesday will show. The news follows a bank holiday weekend during which travel was expected to overtake pre-pandemic levels for the first time and official data showing recent growth in overseas visitors. Barry O’Halloran has the details.

With the good times rolling – at least for the public finances, if not our own – figuring out what to do with this largesse has become something to think about. Bankrolled by bumper corporate tax receipts, the exchequer‘s budget surplus this year is expected to be about €10 billion. So, what shall we do with it, wonders Fiona Reddan

Banks are joining forces with the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) to encourage cash-strapped borrowers to approach their lenders if they fear they cannot repay loans, writes Barry O’Halloran. Rising interest rates and runaway inflation have hit many people’s ability to meet financial commitments, including repaying loans, over the last two years.

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Irish digital agency Granite Digital is beginning its US expansion following the acquisition of a majority stake in New York-based LCM247, writes Ciara O’Brien. As part of the deal, which will see a total of €1 million invested in the US business, Granite has acquired a 75 per cent stake in LCM247′s digital division. This will lead to the formation of LCM by Granite, and LCM247′s team of 12 staff, including founder Patrick Heaphy, will move to the new entity, taking Granite’s total headcount to more than 110 staff.

In his weekly personal finance advice slot, Dominic Coyles answers a question about how to deal with a separated spouse who wants to sell the family home that the other spouse and children are living in.

Our Stocktake column finds that the top-heavy rally is characterised by remarkably bad breadth; that analysts are divided over narrow market rally; the US debt ceiling ‘farce’ has had more reruns than Friends and that large-cap stocks ‘laughing’ as the rest have ‘a bad time’

Our Inside Business podcast host Ciarán Hancock is joined by Irish Times Washington Correspondent Martin Wall and Jack Kelly, senior contributor to Forbes and chief executive of recruitment firm Wecrutir and The Compliance Search Group to discuss why the US keep hitting its debt ceiling?