Ryanair shutdown threat; Ireland’s lost generation; and surviving Google’s U-turn

Ryanair has threatened to shut down its bases at Cork and Shannon airports for the winter, leaving pilots and air crew on unpaid leave, if the Government does not U-turn on its travel guidelines and quarantine rules by the end of the month.

That will only exacerbate the jobs crisis. The Dublin Economic Workshop heard yesterday that Ireland is already facing a "lost Covid generation" unless public spending on job activation is ramped up at least threefold even as the public coffers cope with the "huge numbers" of people depending on State support to survive. Colin Gleeson listened in. heard.

To add to the general gloom, Eoin Burke-Kennedy writes in his Bottom Line column that the growing chasm between the home-owning ambitions of a generation and affordability over the past decade has driven a dagger into the heart of Ireland's two-party political system.

Not so gloomy over Google, although the tech giant's decision to back out of a landmark office deal in Dublin's docklands was classed as "disappointing" by industry sources. They insist nevertheless that it does not mark a tipping point for the commercial property sector as it continues to battle Covid work practices.

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Ryanair may cut more flights in Republic due to travel restrictions

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If you were looking for the future of Irish manufacturing technology, you might not think to head for Mullingar. You'd be wrong, explains Barry Kennedy, the former Intel executive who now heads up the Irish Manufacturing Research Centre that is turning its attention to everything from retooling industry to pump out PPE during the Covid crisis to helping the hearing aid and artificial joint industries appreciate the wonders of 3D printing.

Good news for Dermot Desmond who will get fees of €2.74 million should investors in Datalex – where he is the biggest shareholder – approve an arrangement that will see him lend up to €10 million more to the troubled travel software group and also extend the maturity of €11.3 million in existing debt by a year. Joe Brennan has the details

Debenhams liquidator KPMG has withdrawn a proposed €1 million redundancy top-up after it was dismissed by former staff, some of whom staged a sit in at premises in Dublin and Cork. Martin Wall and Tim O'Brien report that six people were arrested.

In Commercial Property, Ronald Quinlan writes that Gannon Homes is expected to secure up to €20 million as it sells on the old Smurfit Paper Mills site on over three acres in Clonskeagh, complete with permission for a 126-apartment development.

Separately, developer Kieran Gannon is expecting international interest as he looks for offers in excess of €210 million for the 475-apartment complex he is planning to build in Dublin's Drumcondra. Ronald has the details.

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