The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has asked the Government to introduce supports to help hospitality operators build accommodation to house staff, and for a separate grants scheme to assist with retrofitting properties.
In a pre-budget submission to the Department of Finance, the IHF is also seeking a reduction in the VAT rate to 9 per cent for food services, an additional €90 million for marketing Ireland abroad, and an “intervention” to scrap the 32 million passenger cap at Dublin Airport. Ciarán Hancock has the details
Guinness parent Diageo is to lodge plans with Kildare County Council to double the capacity of its €200 million brewery in Littleconnell, Co Kildare.
Construction work at the brewery has been ongoing since June of last year and Diageo has confirmed that the proposed expansion would more than double the brewery’s capacity to 4.5 million hectolitres. Gordon Deegan reports.
The Government should cash in on stable building costs by “pushing forward” with its €275 billion National Development Plan, construction and property professionals said on Thursday.
Construction costs rose 1.5 per cent in the first six months of the year, according to a report from the Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland (SCSI).
Tomás Kelly, the society’s vice-president noted that the rate of building cost inflation had been easing over the last two years, hailing it a welcome development. Barry O’Halloran reports.
Do you remember dial-up internet access? If you are over a certain age – and I am – it is likely that your first experience of going online was plugged in to the phone jack in the wall, listening to hisses and screeches as your computer tried desperately to grab a connection.
Then someone would call, or need to use the phone, and your internet access would be cut off. There was always the spectre of call charges too, with your internet access billed by the minute, writes Ciara O’Brien in this week’s Net Results column.
Why is Ireland not considered a truly rich country?
Bank of Ireland has been referred to the Workplace Relations Commission over planned changes to hybrid working by the Financial Services Union (FSU) which said it has been left with “no option” following “intransigence” by the bank. Hugh Dooley reports
House price inflation used to be big news, particularly when the annual rate was high (and close to 10 per cent). Not any more. The endless glut of bad news relating property here has desensitised us, Cantillon argues.
There’s a growing trend across medtech to reduce hospital visits for patients by empowering them to manage more of their own care.
Medtech companies based in Ireland are at the forefront of this movement which covers the full gamut of care, writes Emmet Ryan.
Few exemplify this approach more than SymPhysis Medical. The Galway-based company, which has raised €9.2 million in funding to date, is focused on end-of-life care for terminally ill cancer patients.
In a world of digital photography, physical prints stand out. That is something Fujifilm is counting on with its latest instant camera, adding to the increasingly versatile Instax range.
Fujifilm seems to put out a surprising number of updates for the Instax range. But it covers three different products now – the basic point-and-shoot instant camera, the hybrid digital camera and the instant photo printer. Plus there are different formats: the original mini film, the square prints and the wide format.
It is enough to confuse even the most dedicated instant photography fan, writes Ciara O’Brien in her review of the Fujifilm Instax Mini 41.
Dinesh Lalvani has hopped around the world before landing in Ireland. Raised in Dubai by Indian parents, he studied international business at Hofstra University in New York and, having lived in Mumbai, New York, London and Dubai, has now settled in Waterford.
This geographical shift is explained by love. Lalvani met his Irish-born wife, Claire, in Dubai. Waterford is now home to Euryka, an artificial-intelligence-powered creative hub for marketing teams, writes Olive Keogh.
With unions in the CIÉ transport companies having this week backed long-discussed pension reforms in the group, it is now up to the Government to put in place measures that will allow retired workers to receive their first increase in about 17 years, reckons Cantillon.
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