Ryanair strike threat, Ulster Bank’s tracker woes, VHI rebuffed

Would-be Ryanair passengers will be keeping a close eye on developments between the airline and pilots' union Ialpa today, with the latter having given the airline a midday deadline for a recognition agreement if strike action is to be averted. Barry O'Halloran has been following the story and will provide updates on irishtimes.com/business as soon as we have them.

Joe Brennan has delved into the latest developments in the tracker-mortgage scandal and discovered that the situation at one lender - Ulster Bank - could be much worse than had previously been realised, even after yesterday's attempts to draw a line under revelations.

Joe also reports on good news for 45 senior staff at Eir, who are set to share a cool ¤100 millionwhen they sell their shares as part of the latest takeover of the company.

The VHI's tentative plans to move into private hospitals have received a cool response from the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, who said he would be "very, very cautious" about such a move. Martin Wall reports.

Tracker mortgage cases may top 36,000 as Ulster Bank talks continue

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US finalises steep duties on Bombardier jets after Boeing complaint

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Housing association change could add to Government debt

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Tracker mortgage scandal: Overcharging cases reach 33,700 after showdown

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Coolness was also in the air last night in relation to a move by the Central Statistics office to reclassify the State's largest housing agencies as public rather than private bodies. Critics say such a shift could not only add up to ¤1.3 billion of debt on to the public balance sheet, but could also threaten plans for the construction of thousands of social housing units. Eoin Burke-Kennedy and Charlie Taylor explain the factors at play.

Cliff Taylor reports that US president Donald Trump's newly minted tax package could put the brakes on Apple's appeal of the European Commission ruling that it must pay €13 billion in back tax to the Republic. The question then, he suggests, would be how the Government would react.

Still in US policy, Karlin Lillington uses her Net Results column this week to mourn the official end of net neutrality in her native country and to reflect on the benefits of the EU regime.

Charlie Taylor also compares the US with the EU today, asking why so much venture capital funding is available in one place and so relatively little in the other. And finally, Peter Hamilton reports on a potential game-changer in nanotechnology that has emerged from Trinity College Dublin.