In short

Other business stories in brief

Judgment due in Smart 3G licence case

The High Court will give its judgment next week on Smart Telecom's bid to overturn the decision of the Commission for Communications Regulation not to grant it the lucrative multi-million 3G mobile phone licence. Mr Justice Peter Kelly will give his decision next Tuesday.

Smart Telecom took the case after ComReg's decision last February not to award the licence to Smart Mobile Ltd because of what it claimed was a failure to provide the €100 million performance guarantee bond in a form acceptable to it within the deadline.

ComReg, it was claimed, failed to fulfil its obligations and interfered with Smart Telecom's rights in an unfair and disproportionate manner.

Bank accused of breaking new deal

Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg has accused Bank of Ireland of breaking the terms of the new national pay deal.

After an Ictu executive council meeting yesterday, Mr Begg said the bank's refusal to comply with a Labour Court request to defer a new pension scheme was "in clear breach of Towards 2016".

Anyone hired by the bank after October 1st is not on its long-standing defined benefit scheme, but instead is on a new package that has elements of both defined benefit and fixed contribution.

The IBOA has deferred a ballot on industrial action at the request of the Labour Court.

HBOS subsidiary sees fall in profits

The Irish subsidiary of one of Britain's largest banks, HBOS plc (Halifax Bank of Scotland) suffered a 67 per cent drop in net profits last year, according to the latest accounts returned to the Companies Office.

Accounts filed for 2005 by the Shannon-based Halifax Insurance (Ireland) Ltd show after-tax profits of €59 million (£40 million), down 67 per cent from the €185 million (£124 million) in 2004.

ThirdForce wins British contract

ThirdForce, a provider of e-learning software, has won a €1 million contract to provide training materials to Care UK, one of Britain's leading national suppliers of care and support services.

The three-year contract was won by its subsidiary Creative Learning Media.

Dell dismissal claim settled

A claim for constructive dismissal from Dell has been settled after only one session of a four-day hearing at the employment tribunal in Dublin.

Margaret Crockett had returned from eight weeks of sick leave to find her position of European marketing manager no longer existed and she had been moved to another role, which she viewed as a demotion.

AIB's visible Ryder Cup sponsorship

AIB has emerged as the most visible sponsor of the 2006 Ryder Cup, according to research carried out by Onside Sponsorship consultancy. Almost four in 10 adults surveyed by Onside recalled that AIB sponsored the event, making it the most frequently mentioned sponsor.

Fáilte Ireland came in at the bottom of the scale.

Five apply for Christian licence

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has received five applications for the licence to operate a "quasi-national" Christian and religious radio service.

The submissions will be available for public viewing, from November 13th, online and in the BCI's Dublin offices and at the public library in the Ilac Centre.