Booming tax and budget plans, Meta challenges Twitter; and measuring success in more than GDP

Surging tax revenues will fund a giveaway budget that will increase public spending by over 6 per cent, and include a modest tax-cutting package but save most of a large surplus, the Government announced in its Summer Economic Statement. Pat Leahy and Eoin Burke-Kennedy report.

Eoin also has details of midyear exchequer returns that show tax revenues up 11 per cent on last year, with corporation tax income up by a fifth.

Bank of Ireland named Susan Russell as chief executive of its Irish retail unit, as part of a shuffling of chairs on leadership positions at the bank. Joe Brennan has the details.

In more corporate shuffling, Jack Pierse, cofounder of tech unicorn and ecommerce lender Wayflyer is stepping aside “to pursue [unspecified] new projects”, writes Ciara O’Brien

Vulnerable people stuck in the middle of impasse over enduring power of attorney

---

Sewage crisis: why this UK election is being fought on – and in – rivers and lakes

---

Hubristic Woodford was the orchestrator of his own downfall

---

Despite what people may think, taxes in Ireland are low compared to Europe

---

Ciara also looks at Threads, Meta’s rival platform to Twitter which, it is rumoured, will be available from tomorrow in what is the latest challenge faced by Elon Musk’s vanity purchase.

A survey of US multinationals in advance of their July 4th celebrations identified housing and energy costs and security of supply as key issues for foreign direct investors in Ireland Inc, though the majority said they expect to increase employment.

They will be cheered by data for the services sector this morning that shows it seeing buoyant demand despite ongoing difficulties in the tech sector. Ian Curran reports.

The news is not so encouraging on the jobs front with recruiter Morgan McKinley noting that professional job vacancies fell the second quarter as inflation, slowing business growth and housing market issues put the brakes on hiring.

In Commercial Property, Ronald Quinlan reports on a new arrival on Grafton Street, Castore, which is now official kit supplier to both the FAI and Leinster Rugby.

Finally, in her column, Sarah O’Connor casts a sceptical eye at stories from the US of work colleagues “gifting” their paid time off to each other after the birth of new babies or hospital stays. As Europeans fret that their continent is falling behind the US in terms of economic might she asks whether, while GDP certainly matters, it should be the only yardstick by which countries measure their progress against one another?

Stay up to date with all our business news: sign up to our Business Today daily email news digest. If you’d like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money, the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.