Europe’s top court will give its initial opinion on the merits of the 32 million cap on passenger numbers allowed through Dublin Airport next month. A final ruling is expected to follow within four to six months on the controversial cap. Barry O’Halloran has the details.
Adverse outcomes of AI was the risk that rose most steeply in the rankings in this year’s Global Risks Report, published by the World Economic Forum ahead of its annual meeting next week in Davos, Switzerland. However, writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy, trade wars and economic disputes are still seen as posing the biggest threat to global stability.
Speaking of AI, as Ciara O’Brien surveys the stubborn refusal of Elon Musk to accept that his Grok AI is responsible for weaponising deepfakes against women (and, worse still, children), she says it seems one thing that this “technology of our future” struggles with is boundaries and one thing it lacks is a good dose of cop-on.
And while less offensive that Grok’s nudifying, a survey of Ireland’s financial services sector is depressingly predictable, noting that women continue to be “extremely underrepresented” in executive positions holding less than a fifth of the available roles, and no improvement on the previous year. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.
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Austria’s Bawag bank is in talks to buy Irish non-bank lender Finance Ireland in a move that only increases expectations that it might also move to acquire PTSB, which is currently on the market with the bank and its advisers hoping for firm expressions of interest by the end of the month, writes Joe Brennan.
That comes as mortgage rates hit a near three-year low in November, according to the Central Bank with the average interest rate on new home loans that month coming in at 3.53 per cent, writes Hugh Dooley.
Ireland has raised between a third and a half of all the money it intends to tap international bond markets for this year, after the National Treasury Management Agency sold €5 billion in a syndicated sale of its new 10-year bond that attracted very strong interest. Joe Brennan reports.
Mark Hennessy talks to companies that have taken their first “export” steps by trading across the Border. Encouraged by InterTradeIreland, it has proved the door to bigger things for companies North and South.
In her tech feature, Ciara O’Brien offers a series of practical tips to make your digital life more secure and streamlined for the year ahead.
Her tech review, on the other hand, sounds like something only a fallen friend would give your child – a karaoke speaker aimed at younger children, with voice effects that turn your young child’s sweet tones into those of a dinosaur, a baby and a cat among others. Imagine, she writes, how much fun it would be to be woken up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning by your child belting out Taylor Swift, but sounding like a T-Rex.
Plans for 621 new homes on the old Chivers jam factory site in Coolock have its former neighbour, the long-standing Cadbury’s plant, worried about possible rodent infestation. It also wants to make sure that future residents in the new development do not try to impact its 24/7 production with noise complaints. Gordon Deegan looks at the plans.
Workers at Meta subcontractor, Covalen – part of the CPL recruitment giant – will strike on Thursday and Friday in an ongoing dispute over trade union recognition and redundancy terms for the 300 or so staff being let go. As of now, they have been told they will get only statutory redundancy and no post-lay-off support. Barry O’Halloran reports.
Sky, the satellite TV group, has been told can no longer simply autorenew customers’ contracts. Instead, it must let customers know their contracts are about to end and what alternative tariffs are available.
Finally, estate agent industry group Ipav raises serious doubts about whether the Residential Tenancies Board can get its software in order by March to implement the Government-promised new rent control regime – a key element of its policy to tackle the crisis in housing.
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