News

Ireland is a high cost location for small firms, according to Linda Barry, assistant director at the Small Firms Association (SFA). Addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation yesterday, Ms Barry said that many SFA members were operating in low margin environments, making it difficult for them to absorb cost increases. In […]

Families have been given fresh hope that their tracker nightmare will end this year, after the Government threatened to hit banks with massive tax bills if they do not rectify the mess. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the behaviour of the banks was “scandalous” after it emerged that lenders are actively frustrating the efforts of regulators. […]

A year-old pact underpinning billions of dollars of transatlantic data transfers won a green light from the European Union yesterday after a first review to ensure the US protects Europeans’ data stored on American servers. The EU-US Privacy Shield was agreed last year after everyday cross-border data transfers were plunged into limbo when the EU’s […]

AIB is preparing to launch the largest non-performing loan sale in its history next month as it embarks on the final phase of its post-crisis balance sheet purge amid a fresh crackdown on the sector from the European Central Bank. It is understood soured loans with a face value of close to €2bn will be […]

Beryl Dunne, an IT manager who lives in Bray, Co Wicklow, is semi-retired and said she had to ramp up her payments so that she could retire when she wanted. “I wanted to retire by 50 so, health-wise, I could enjoy life. Also, I felt that by the time I came to retire the State […]

Changes to the way the State pension payment is calculated were introduced in 2012. The new rules hit women hard. They are typically losing around €35 in payments. And they will not get the full €5 rise in the State pension announced in this week’s Budget. Personal Finance editor Charlie Weston looks at all your […]

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has delivered his first Budget and it’s safe to say it was a bonanza for nobody, but who has fared the best? WINNERS: Social welfare recipients Social welfare recipients are set to receive a €5 increase to their weekly payments. While the amount has been criticised by some, it is the […]

Nama’s top bosses have moved to pre-empt criticism of the agency’s new role managing the Government’s latest housebuilding fund, including telling the Irish Independent they’ll work with builders regardless of any previous disputes. Since 2009 most of the country’s main builders have had some or all of their debt in Nama and in a significant […]

The Government has been accused of only adding 31 homes to house building targets for next year. While Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe admitted some of the numbers in the Budget on social housing had been announced before, Sinn Fein said one of the headline figures had been unveiled in the middle of last year. The […]

It’s the one day when the most popular thing for Irish people to talk about is not the weather. Budget Day gives us an incredible amount of mileage to air our views to anyone who will listen. Which mostly involves plain old giving out. Here are ten of the things you’re likely to hear next […]