Electricity shortages, McGregor’s new house, and air travel restrictions

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Conor McGregor has received planning permission to extend his house in Kildare.
Conor McGregor has received planning permission to extend his house in Kildare.

Recent efforts to secure new power plants will produce just one fifth of the extra electricity needed to meet likely growth in demand, industry players say. Barry O'Halloran has the details.

Screen Ireland has announced details of three new crew hubs in Galway, Limerick and Wicklow that will seek to alleviate shortages of skilled labour in the Irish film and television industry amid record levels of production and "huge" potential for growth. Laura Slattery reports.

Kildare County Council has given the green light for a large house extension plan by MMA star Conor McGregor, writes Gordon Deegan.

Radiocentre Ireland, an organisation formed by RTÉ and Independent Broadcasters of Ireland to promote the growth of advertising on radio, has appointed Ciaran Cunningham as its first chief executive. Laura Slattery has the details.

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In Agenda, Mark Paul finds a long list of companies in Ireland who paid dividends to shareholders last year having also taken financial support from the State via wage subsidy schemes that were meant to cushion the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns on their businesses. It's a theme that has hit a nerve with the Irish public.

In Caveat, Mark Paul says the concerns of the travel industry deserve to be heard as the Government and other countries ponder the introduction of restrictions to counter the spread of the Omicron variant.

By the end of next year, the Irish economy could have regained all the ground lost to Covid-19, providing there are no more hits from new variants, writes our columnist John FitzGerald.

In World of Work, Olive Keogh talks to the founders of Da Silly Heads, an Irish company taking a sensible, and sometimes fun, approach to mental heath advocacy.

Also on a work theme, FT columnist Pilita Clark looks at the stories of a growing number of executives who have ditched high-flying jobs in business or finance, often at the peak of their earning years, to fight for a safer climate.

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Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock is Business Editor of The Irish Times