Ryanair first quarter loss, Thérapie’s €10m fertility clinics, Ikea’s profits

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

Ikea’s flagship Irish store in Ballymun, north Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill / The Irish Times
Ikea’s flagship Irish store in Ballymun, north Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill / The Irish Times

Ryanair has reported a €273 million loss for its first quarter even as traffic rebounded during the period. Charlie Taylor reports.

Thérapie Medical Group is planning to open three fertility clinics in Dublin and Kildare this summer following a €10 million investment, and is promising better pricing for couples compared with its rivals. Ciarán Hancock has the details.

Profits at the Irish operation of Swedish home furnishings giant Ikea slumped last year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Charlie Taylor goes through the numbers.

Pensions contribution limits penalise women workers and the self-employed, according to an analysis from a leading pension trustee. Dominic Coyle reports.

READ SOME MORE

Planning permission for an eight-storey apartment block and retail outlets at the busy Walkinstown Roundabouttraffic junction in south Dublin has been refused by Dublin City Council because of its "unacceptable impact" on the local area and concerns around air quality. Seán McCárthaigh has the details.

State-owned Shannon Foynes port reported a 7.6 per cent decline in turnover last year to €12.9 million as pre-tax profits fell from €4.9 million to €3.1 million due to the impact of the Covid-19 crisis, writes Charlie Taylor.

As many as 24 new hotels comprising 4,500 rooms will be delivered in Dublin by the end of 2023, according to new figures. Charlie Taylor reports.

In our Opinion piece, Supermac's founder Pat McDonagh says the Personal Injuries Assessment Board needs immediate reform by Government if it is to deliver on its promise to reduce insurance costs for businesses.

In her weekly column, Pilita Clark says collecting employee data isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just depends on what employers do with the information.

Planning permission for 600 apartments on the former Irish Glass Bottle site near Ringsend in Dublin has been submitted by a consortium led by developer Johnny Ronan. Charlie Taylor reports.

Drivers at Dublin Bus would receive increases of nearly 15 per cent in some cases over a number of years in return for significant changes in work practices under a proposed new deal with management, trade unions have said. Martin Wall has the details.

Australian telecoms giant Telstra's two billion Australian dollars (€1.25 billion) bid for Digicel's Pacific operations will be based on getting an "adequate financial return", according to its chairman John Mullen, writes Padraig Collins in Sydney.

Stay up to date with all our business news: sign up to our breaking news alerts.

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock is Business Editor of The Irish Times