Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy has laid out plans to help first-time buyers purchase a home. Government-backed mortgage loans will be provided at a fixed rate of between 2% to 2.2% with ap...
Australia: 55 Irish companies flew to Australia to pitch their products to the country in November 2017, with 14 deals expected to be the outcome. The pitches came as part of the State Visit b...
UK: the IMF predicts global growth this year and 2019 to be 3.9%, the biggest expansion since 2011. However, the UK is expected to see growth of just 1.5% for 2018 and 2019.
...
A resolution to a EU-Mercosur trade agreement looks not to be reached by the end of the year, despite Argentina’s enthusiasm to announce it at their WTO conference on Dec 13. The differe...
The global CEO report from PwC forecasts that Ireland will be the fastest growing economy in the eurozone to 2024. Currently, Ireland is projected to have a GDP growth for 3.5% in 2018. ...
The Alexander (soon to be renamed The Alex), The Davenport and the Stephen’s Green Hotel are due for an upgrade totalling €30m. They are all part of the O’Callaghan Hotel Grou...
Ryanair have endured a disastrous September due to the continued furore over pilot rostering. Several routes over a prolonged period were axed due to staff shortages affecting over 700,000 pas...
The HSE is believed to be facing a €300m financial deficit for 2017 as a whole. The Department of Health has said that the HSE should try for a break-even position by making detailed plan...
FARM AND FOOD
Lakeland Dairies of Cavan are to create 85 jobs in Cavan over the next 2 years following a €40m investment into the milk powder plant. The company is supplied by 2,400 dair...
Mario Draghi, head of the ECB left interest rates unchanged in September with the ECB cautiously planning the future of their QE programme. Draghi reported that October will see a clearer path...
USA: the IMF has revised downwards their growth forecast to 2.1% for 2017 and 2018 due to US fiscal policy not as ‘expansionary’ as they thought in April.
Japan: Prime Minister Shinzo A...
Office rents in the capital are expected to reach 2008’s peak levels by 2018. Prime rents are expected to reach €65 per sq.m for 2017 vs just €28 per sq.m in 2012.
Dubli...
The value of mergers and acquisitions in Ireland has fallen 65% during H1 following stricter restrictions places on firms in the US which makes tax inversion much harder.
The OECD has given I...
Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny which are traditional dairying counties, all reported growth rates over the national average of 31%. While Cork reported an increase below the national averag...
Consumer confidence in the UK is at its lowest level since the immediate after effect following the vote to leave the EU. The consumer confidence index fell to -10 in June.
Sterling has...
A report issued by the ESRI points out that there is currently no housing bubble. They predicted that for the foreseeable future, prices and rents would continue to increase due to the problem...
Air traffic between Ireland and the UK is on course to break last year’s record of 12.8m passengers, with Irish people seeking good value in the UK due to the stronger euro.
Dubli...
US: Retail sales in the US dropped in May by their largest amount for 16 months.
China: GDP grew 6.9% in Q2 YoY, defying expectations from economists. The Government target for the year...
88 Irish nurses took up a job offer in the HSE’s ‘Bring Them Home’ campaign which cost €250,000 to run. The take-up was deemed to be low and many nursing vacancies are s...
Irish Trade figures from the Central Statistics Office:
The monthly trade surplus reached €5bn for the first time on record. Trade surplus is the value of exports over the value of im...
Cavan based Lakeland Dairies reported an operating profit of €7.2m for 2016, half of what it was in 2015 when they achieved a healthier €15.5m. The company is believed to be looking ...
UK: Theresa May has called a General Election for June 8 2017. According to the current Prime Minister, a bigger parliamentary majority is needed in order to strengthen her hand for negotiatio...
The IMF has revised upwards its forecast for world growth in 2017 to 3.5% vs 3.4% in January. 2018’s outlook remains unchanged at 3.6%.
The IMF has given its US growth outlo...
2016 saw 2,076 homes built despite the estimate from the Government that it was close to 15,000. Of this, just 848 were estate houses and apartments. The Government had reported this fig...
Official figures from the Central Statistics Office show 33m people passed through Irish airports in 2016. Dublin Airport accounted for 84.6% of passengers which saw 204,563 flights. Cor...
Medtronic in Tullamore will now be owned by Cardinal Health and they will be the 5th operators of the plant since it opened in 1982 (previous owners have been Sherwood Medical, Tyco, Covidien and Me...
The Central Statistics Office has put Ireland’s unemployment rate at 6.6% for February and predicts the country to be at 6% by mid-year. Full employment is considered to be 5% and ...
The UK has triggered Article 50 by sending a ‘notification of withdrawal’ letter to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. It sets in a motion a two-year ticking clock...
Allergan are to invest €42m in their facilities in Dublin and Mayo to support increased manufacturing. Allergan have been in Ireland since 1977.
It is hoped a potential cure for pancreat...
The Irish Hotels Federation has warned that rural Ireland will suffer most from the expected decrease in UK visitors to Ireland following the drop in sterling. The UK accounted for 40% of over...
The average loan for house-buyers increased by 9.1% to €211,859 in January 2017. The average loan for a first-time buyer is €200,042, up 12.4% YoY.
Mortgage approvals were up 41% in...
China: average wages are catching up with those in Portugal and Greece, and have exceeded those in Brazil and Mexico as China’s decade of massive growth have helped triple pay packets. H...
Ireland has secured a new beef deal with Saudi Arabia that will, on top of what is already being exported currently, allow now for processed, cooked, minced and bone-in beef. Saudi Arabia is I...
Glanbia foods has purchased Amazing Grass in the US and Body & Fit in Holland at a cost of €181m. The current management teams of both companies will remain in place and will implemen...
German factory orders rose by 5.2% which was the largest incline since July 2014.
The German economy grew by 0.4% for Q4 2016.
Investor sentiment in Eastern Europe has dropped with a reading for F...
There were 14,932 new homes completed in 2016, an 18% increase on 2015 and the highest since 2009, but the figure falls way short of the 25,000 homes per year currently needed to be built in Ireland...
Ryanair’s profits fell by up to 8% in Q3 2016 to €95m vs an expected €99m. CEO Michael O’Leary cited a weak pricing environment including a weaker sterling as playing a s...
Ireland could possibly lose out on saving millions of euro due the lack of generic medicines available in the market. An agreement reached last year stipulated that once a generic brand became...
Car registrations were at a 12 year high in January, but economists warned that a slowdown is due. There were 174,564 new cars in January, which was the fastest start to any year since 2005.&n...
Irish Exports reached a record high for 2016 with a value of €116.9bn. However, exports to the UK have fallen by €496m to €13.3bn (4%) as a direct result of Brexit. Import...
An ERSI/KBC survey on consumer sentiment showed confidence was at a 2 year low in December where it dropped to 96.2 from 97.8 in November. According to Austin Hughes of KBC this decline could ...
The British economy is believed to have grown by 0.5% in Q4 and 2% for the whole of 2016, early figures suggest. Industrial production grew by 2.1% in November vs October.
Lidl enjoyed ...
Athlone will be the first manufacturing plant in Ireland for US drug firm Aerie. The IDA lease agreement with Aerie Pharmaceutical will see an investment by the US company of $25m into the new...
A Failte Ireland survey conducted in 2009 showed 75% of those who responded reporting a decline in their business activity. The same survey conducted in 2016 showed a decline of just 5%. ...
Cushman & Wakefield have predicted that prime commercial property will rise by 4% in Dublin this year. Price are expected to reach €646 per sqm. vs €619 per sqm. achieved at the ...
President Donal Trump’s inauguration took place in January. The media were quick to point out that attendance figures were well below that of previous Presidential inaugurations, and thi...
The new year has brought a brisk trade in the calf trade with prices for Friesian calves born in Autumn selling for up to €260 per head. Continental bulls have reached prices of up to &eu...
Exchequer Tax Receipts showed the total take for 2016 was €47.864bn. The target had been €47.225bn. This represents an increase on the 2015 intake which was €45.6bn.
Irel...
In the UK, Four Seasons Healthcare sold or closed down completely 51 homes which caters for the elderly as it plans a financial restructuring for 2017. Four Seasons are the largest care-home o...
There has been an increase of 45% on the number of new build homes in Dublin so far this year with 3,400 houses and apartments constructed. There is a demand for 10,000 new homes in Dublin cur...
The President of the IFA has warned that if a special deal between Ireland the UK cannot be achieved, then Irish meat exports to the UK could fall by 80% and dairy exports could fall by 60%. P...
House prices in London fell in October where the average house price is now £475,000 vs £481,000 in July as the effects of Brexit are slowly falling. Overall, the average UK house ...
The proposed merger between CityJet and Stobart Air is not going ahead. The deal was worth a reputed €80m. CityJet are believed to have spent €1m towards the proposed merger wi...
Growth Forecasts Worldwide for 2017 are reported as follows:
World 3.4%
US 2.1%
Euro Area 1.5%
Japan 0.8%
UK 1.0%
China 6.2%
Latin America 1.7%
Middle East & N Africa 3.7%
Em...
Donald Trump will be America’s 45th President which sent reverberations around the world and caused markets to plummet initially before recovering. He defeated Hillary Clinton in a stunn...
It is expected that Ryanair will start to fly from Frankfurt in the Spring of 2017 with flights to many Spanish tourist areas.
Profits at airline giant Ryanair grew 7% in the 6 months to September ...
In a crushing blow to Theresa May, the British High Court has declared that the Brexit vote is illegal and needs to be sanctioned by Parliament in order to be legal. This means that the govern...
The Food and Drink Industry Ireland reports that for every 1% drop in Sterling against the Euro, food and drink exports from Ireland to the UK will drop by 0.7%.
Coca Cola reported a pre-tax ...
The latest Daft rental report shows that rents have increased nationally by 11.7% from January to September 2016. In Dublin, rents are now approximately 10% higher than their previous peak of ...
Doctors have threatened to go on strike following the breakdown of talks between the Government and the Irish Medical Organisation. The row is based on the abolishment of an allowance of &euro...
The Nissan Leaf accounted for nearly all of the 249 electric cars purchased so far this year with just 12 being a different model. Nissan has created an academy and plans to employ 40 new appr...
4th October 2016: Irish exporters have been hit by Sterlings lowest rate against the Euro in 3 years following Theresa May announcing that Britain will trigger Article 50 by March 2017 to leave the ...
The HSE has issued a warning that this winter could see 1,000 flu deaths. It has urged those who are at risk to get the flu jab.
Official figures have highlighted the stark price contra...
In the latest Daft property report, Ronan Lyons reports that:
September 2016 saw 25,000 properties for sale in Ireland.
Q3 2016 reported house asking prices in Offaly up by 11.3% when co...
The Farming Independent has released data collected from a survey it conducted during the National Ploughing Championships in Tullamore in September 2016. It reveals that nearly 50% of farmers are c...
Theresa May has confirmed the timeline for the UK to trigger Article 50 saying it will be enacted by March 2017. It will be a 2 year process from then, meaning the UK will no longer be part of...
CBRE have reported that 37 hotel transactions took place to the end of September 2016 and have been worth €238m, with the Gresham Hotel accounting for nearly €100m of this figure.
T...
Nielsen data has revealed that prices for everyday grocery items in Ireland have risen for the fifth consecutive quarter. In just the 3 months to June, prices of fast moving goods such ...
The manufacturing industry reported an increase of 51.7 for August vs July’s 50.2. This is good news following the Brexit impact which still remains to be fully seen. New order ret...
A confidential report has revealed that the cost of construction and capital allocations to provide an additional hospital bed are now €325,000. This does not include equipment costs.&nbs...
An Irish Reit has applied for permission to build 492 apartments in South Dublin. The mixed use development will be located at Rockbrook in Sandyford. If given the go-ahead, Rockbrook wi...
Caution was the mood for British householders and companies for July with official figures showing a decrease in borrowing and spending. It is becoming apparent that Brexit is cooling the econ...
German unemployment fell for August with the jobless rate at a record low of 6.1%. However, business sentiment is at a 4 year low following uncertainty surrounding Brexit.
German services ind...
The Mespil Hotel in Dublin enjoyed operating profits of €2.289m last year, which was a 60% rise on 2014.
Ryanair is to reduce by 3% the amount of seats out of Dublin blaming the DAA for ...
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