More than two years after the Department of Housing introduced guidelines to support new forms of compact residential developments in Ireland, home builders and planners are still waiting for a playbook for applying the new measures.
The guidelines were put in place to help developers deliver own-door homes on sites where apartments are deemed unviable. The Department said a design manual detailing best practice, promised for early 2024, was still incomplete.
Many workers in Ireland are concerned their pensions will not be big enough for a comfortable retirement, according to a new report from AIB.
Dominic Coyle reports that despite the clear anxiety demonstrated among workers, more than six in 10 have never reviewed their pension arrangements with an adviser.
AI is reshaping many industries and work practices, and it appears even the car dealerships, where the human touch is deemed so crucial to a sale, are not immune.
Several Irish firms have built AI agents for showrooms that help them follow up on enquiries, book appointments, assess trade-ins and create social media content, which has freed up staff to spend more time with customers, writes Emmet Ryan.
In his latest weekly economics column, Prof John FitzGerald discusses the reliance of Ireland’s economy on migrant workers from outside the EU to address skills shortages.
He argues that cutting work permits, especially for those providing care to the country’s ageing population, would lead to a big headache for the State as the sector struggle without immigrant nurses from countries such as the Philippines.
In her weekly column, Pilita Clark considers a question that may unsettle people managers. As AI agents take on more workplace tasks, managers could end up overseeing fewer people and more bots.
Considering managerial salaries have long been tied to the size of their workforce, she asks whether managers should be paid less if they were responsible for a group of AI agents rather than human staff.
In Monday’s edition, we also have a piece from Frank Rubotham, head of specialists and propositions at Logicalis UK and Ireland, who is writing about ComReg’s proposed licensing framework for private 5G networks.
He writes it could help Irish businesses modernise and attract investment in sectors such as pharma, advanced manufacturing and logistics.
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