A sudden slowdown in demand for Irish exports linked to changes in US trade policy or a global recession would have a “severe impact” on the economy here, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has warned.
In its latest medium-term economic outlook report, the think tank highlighted the economy’s “remarkable performance” over the past decade while warning of three potential shock scenarios that could derail it in the years ahead. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.
Bus company Go-Ahead Ireland plans to hire 400 workers after winning a contract for 65 bus routes around Dublin.
The National Transport Authority recently announced that it had awarded the management of the routes to Go-Ahead, which emerged as the successful bidder for the contract earlier this year. Barry O’Halloran reports.
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Tullow Oil’s almost $1.3 billion (€1.1 billion) of bonds have fallen to 72 cents on the dollar amid mounting concerns over its ability to refinance the debt before it falls due in five months.
Moody’s, a leading global debt ratings agency, this week downgraded its stance on the Irish-founded explorer’s creditworthiness deeper into junk-status, saying a default – possibly through a deal to get bondholders to extend the maturity date of the bonds – “is now very likely”, writes Joe Brennan.
Company directors could have their home addresses dropped from publicly available accounts and other documents to protect their safety following warnings of threats to multinational executives.
The news comes as growing risks to personal safety prompt calls to allow politicians, social media performers and others to obscure details of where they live from the public., reports Barry O’Halloran.
Erisbeg, one of Republic’s largest private equity firms, has acquired a majority stake in a Dublin balconies maker in a deal estimated to value the business at about €20 million.
The deal comes as the Government has introduced a number of initiatives to support apartment building following a slump in multi-unit construction in recent years. Joe Brennan reports.
Wall Street portfolio manager Michael Green set the cat among the pigeons recently by claiming the new poverty line for a family of four in the US was $140,000 (€119,000) a year.
Green’s number, contained in a provocative post on Substack, was criticised as ridiculous by statisticians and poverty campaigners who picked holes in his calculations.
But it struck a chord with many others who held it up as proof of why “middle America” is so financially compromised, writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy in his Friday column.
“The uncertainty around tariffs earlier this year was a challenge, because the multinationals and pharma would be a big part of our business,” Fergal Harte, group hotel general manager of the Fota Collection, tells Ciaran Hancock in our interview of the week, adding that corporate makes up about half of its revenue at the Kingsley and about a third in Fota.
The proportion of women among the workforces at the country’s leading law firms continues to edge upwards in line with the wider profession but recently filed gender pay gap reports suggest the rate at which they are being integrated into the companies’ higher echelons remains slow, writes emmet Malone in this weeks business Agenda.
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