Irish Carney for IMF; banks still off track; and turning plastics into wax

Ireland has been urged to throw its support behind Bank of England governor Mark Carney as Europe's choice for the now vacant job as director general of the IMF on the basis of his Irish citizenship. Suzanne Lynch has the details.

The banks are back in the crosshairs after a final tracker scandal report that did little to support their view that they have learned from their past failings. Half of the 40,100 people who were mistreated by lenders were only acknowledged by the backs under pressure from the Central Bank, writes Joe Brennan, who also has a Q&A on the scandal and a bank-by-bank breakdown of the guilt parties.

In his column, Ciarán Hancock argues that the time is long gone for fine words; only action will restore any customer confidence in our banks.

Speaking of trust, David Marcus, the Facebook executive in charge of its plan to introduce a cryptocurrency called libra, was grilled by senators in Washington on the proposal, with one calling the company "delusional" if it thought consumers would trust it with their money.

Ryanair cuts growth forecast, confirms it is looking at base closures

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Ireland approached to back Mark Carney as next IMF boss

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Tourism Ireland recruits Sepp Maier as ‘golf influencer’

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No guarantee Irish banks have learned lessons from tracker scandal

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Irish Life has stepped back from the Green Reit bidding process just a week ahead of final bids, writes Joe Brennan. There are just names in the hat now for Green, whose shares have surged 20 per cent in recent months.

Portlaoise is home to the first company worldwide to turn plastic waste into wax, according to its founders. Trifol says it can tackle up to 50 per cent of all waste plastics and can produce up to 3,500 tonnes of wax from its first plant following a €12 million investment. Peter Hamilton has the details.

Ryanair will look for Boeing to compensate it after the airline acknowledged that it will have to trim next summer's schedule because of the grounding of the 737 Max, and will assume additional costs on older planes that it cannot now return to lessors or sell on. Barry O'Halloran and Ciara O'Brien report.

In Commercial Property, Ronald Quinlan reports that the Carmelite order is set to make up to €35 million from the sale of eight acres of land attached to its student and novitiate house at Gort Mhuire, close to Dundrum in south Dublin to a housebuilder.

Ronald also writes that investment from international investors in Dublin's private rented sector saw it accounting for a record 55 per cent of all property investment transactions in the capital in the second quarter of 2019.

Finally, JD Wetherspoon has acquired Carbon Nightclub in Galway – its ninth Irish outlet – and plans to convert it to a pub with an investment of about €2.5 million.

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