Can the Irish stock exchange be saved?

The plight of Euronext Dublin, as the Irish Stock Exchange is known as these days, has been an issue of concern in Irish business for years. The problem: a dearth of new listings in recent years, combined with a steady drip of companies switching to the greener fields of the London or US markets is not new, but they have undoubtedly worsened. Some of the biggest staples of the Dublin market: CRH, Flutter and Smurfit Kappa have either left or are set to leave pending deals, bringing the issue to a head. Now, the exchange along with leading figures from the stockbroking, legal and accounting worlds are working on proposals to bring to Government in an effort to shore it up. Joe Brennan has the details.

Joe also reports on a concerning issue around the quality of audits of big, listed companies. A report by the Republic’s accounting watchdog said 23 per cent of audits of public interest entities (PIEs) last year required improvement, more than double the rate of shortcomings found in a quality assessment review carried out in 2022.

In her column, Pilita Clark looks at how we conduct meetings in our working life and identifies what can be many people’s nemesis: the meeting bore.

A dispute over the true value of shares in Rivada Networks has erupted in the midst of a bitter lawsuit between its founder Declan Ganley and one of its shareholders. David Shuman, an investor in Rivada, is suing Ganley in an effort to force him to pay the remainder of a default debt judgment that according to court filings now stands at nearly $20 million, after interest. Barry J Whyte has the story.

Insurance reform: bringing stability and lower costs to contentious claims process

---

An attempt to buy the next election with a giveaway budget would be a gross miscalculation

---

Student accommodation: A market plagued by bed shortages, rising rents and 51-week leases

---

Why is Amazon still not paying a dividend?

---

Are immigrants driving our economy or steeling or jobs? Eoin Burke-Kennedy breaks down the real importance of migration to our economic wealth.

Irish residential construction activity contracted for a 17th straight month in February, placing a risk over the Government’s target for home completions to rise 2.3 per cent to 33,450 units this year, a new survey found. Joe has the details.

Bank of Ireland is one of several lenders to a wind farm off the coast of Scotland that when complete is forecast to provide enough power for some 1.3 million homes. The lender is providing £56 million (€65.9 million) worth of financing for the Moray West wind energy project. The project, situated at least 22.5km off the east coast of Scotland near Aberdeen, gained planning permission in 2019, according to the project’s website. On completion, the project will occupy about 225 sq km.

A former big four accountant says she is “determined” for her expat focused tax advisory website to hit turnover of €1 million within the next two years, as her boutique business carves out space in a busy market. Ellen O’Regan reports.

Finally in our Monday opinion, a week after BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes called on the Government to include post offices and credit unions, as well as banks, to be brought under the remit of the upcoming Access to Cash bill, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath responds.

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.