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Ireland’s EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness insists that plans to classify some nuclear and gas power energy as “green” for investment purposes is based on scientific advice. Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary reports that the commissioner is treading a fine line between competing interests.
Developers behind contentious plans to build on Dublin’s Cobblestone pub have returned with a more modest proposal after seeing their original vision turned down by Dublin City Council. Gordon Deegan writes that the new plan will see the whole of the existing pub retained and a new performing space created to replace the feted back room area of the current site.
Former Arthur Cox managing partner and chairman Eugene McCague has been appointed by global investment bank Goldman Sachs as a regional adviser for the Irish market, making him the investment giant’s “eyes and ears” in the Irish market.
Ireland’s advertising market grew by 20 per cent last year, with the drinks industry leading the way as it focused on the in-home trade as well as moving to support non-alcoholic brands in response to tightened advertising guidelines, writes Colin Gleeson. This year is likely to see more modest growth but the online market is likely to further consolidate its dominant position.
In stock markets, optimism that Omicron will not be as economically destructive as earlier Covid-19 variants cheered airlines and tourism-related stocks.
Even so, more than a third of Irish business leaders don’t expect to see the majority of their staff returning to the workplace until at least the second quarter of the year. And 7 per cent think the issue will not arise at all, with all or most of their staff working remotely in future. Colin Gleeson has the figures.
The annual Consumer Electronics Show returns in person this year but the number of exhibitors are likely to be down by half on the last time a physical event took place in 2019. Connected services, Covid and the ongoing chip shortage look set to be the dominant themes, writes Ciara O’Brien.
Speaking of consumer electrics, Mercedes has unveiled an electric car that it claims can travel more than 1,000 kilometres on a single charge. It’s hoping the persuade motorists not to worry about the lack of charging infrastructure.
Meanwhile, figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry show a doubling in the number of electric vehicles registered in Ireland last year. Colin Gleeson reports that this comes as the overall market picked up by 19 per cent.
Brooke Masters writes that the conviction of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was a timely warning to start-up entrepreneurs of the difference between rosy optimism and outright fraud.
Banks may be lending more per person than even during the Celtic Tiger, according to new figures from MyHome.ie and Davy, but record low supply and rising prices make home purchase as difficult as ever. However, writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy, at least we are not building up a credit bubble thanks to rising wages and Central Bank rules.
Homes may be hard to find but Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has still recommended refusal of a proposed ¤230 million, 463-unit development on Leopardstown Road off the N11 in a move local objectors hope will bolster their position.
Finally, an analysis of all the strategic housing development applications from last year shows that 96 per cent of the 116 submitted – for more than 38,000 homes – involved a material contravention of county or local development plans.
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