News

Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi and B&M will forgo UK property tax relief during the pandemic, following rivals Tesco and Morrisons and taking the total recouped by the UK government from retailers to £1.8 billion.  Britain’s supermarket groups have seen sales soar during the pandemic, but have been criticised by politicians for paying shareholder dividends while receiving […]

The European Union’s top markets regulator has delivered a fresh warning that big European banks will face difficulties trading derivatives when they are locked out of London’s dominant trading platforms at the end of the Brexit transition this month.  Steven Maijoor, chair of the Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority, said in an interview with […]

Negotiations on a future EU-UK relationship will resume in London this morning, but hope is fading that the talks on a post-Brexit trade deal could finish today. Downing Street last night claimed that the EU side had placed fresh obstacles in the way of an agreement following pressure from French President Emmanuel Macron. British officials […]

The public finances recorded a deficit of €8.9 billion in November, according to the latest Exchequer figures. This compares to a surplus of €3.355bn in November last year. It is also an improvement on the €11.7bn deficit recorded at the end of October, largely due to some one-off factors. The deterioration compared to last year […]

Services activity contracted faster in November, ahead of the reopening from this week of large parts of the sector, a business survey showed today.  Ireland became one of first European countries to reimpose tough Covid-19 restrictions in late October when the Government shut non-essential retail and limited pubs and restaurants to takeaway services. The restrictions […]

Brexit talks have stretched late into the night as both sides fought their corners with the clock ticking down to the deadline for a trade deal.  It was reported that several boxes of pizza were delivered to the talks venue last night.  EU and UK officials are trying to hammer out an agreement ahead of the end […]

Irish consumers are planning on buying Irish after Brexit and many have already switched from UK websites due to concerns around consumer rights.  The Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) said there has been an 18% increase in the number of people planning on buying more from Irish-based businesses. But more than half of consumers here still […]

Dublin is the sixth most active real estate market in Europe for capital invested, according to a report by PwC and Urban Land Institute. In its 18th year, the report ranks 31 European cities for investment and development potential as well as ranking sector prospects. It is based on the opinions of 995 real estate professionals across […]

One third of Irish consumers, or 1.2 million people are Christmas shopping earlier this year due to lockdown, according to new research from PayPal. The study, conducted by Censuswide and involving more than 1,000 consumers in Ireland, found that the top reasons for starting shopping earlier are concerns over the availability of items and worries about […]

New figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland show that October was the busiest month for mortgage approvals since BPFI began compiling the numbers in 2011. A total of 5,207 mortgages were approved in October. First-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 3,041 mortgages, or 58.4% of the total volume, while mover purchasers accounted for 1,267 […]