Archive for December 2023

Up to 188,000 non-domestic customers of Uisce Éireann are facing higher bills for water and waste water treatment from October, if proposals from the regulator are adopted. The changes would see the annual bills of 172,837 or 91.6% non-domestic customers rise less than €250, while 8,100 or 4.3% would face annual bill increases of between…

The National Asset Management Agency has today completed a €350m cash transfer to the Exchequer as it approaches its orderly wind down. Today’s transfer brings the total cash paid to the Exchequer from NAMA’s surplus to €3.85 billion. NAMA has also made corporation tax payments of more than €400m so far. NAMA was set up…

Consumer sentiment improved slightly in December and was significantly higher year-on-year, according to the latest report by the Irish League of Credit Unions. The latest survey had a reading of 62.4, compared to 61.9 in November and 48.7 in December 2022. It represents a continuation of the broadly upward trend in consumer sentiment that began…

Oil prices fell today and were on track to snap a three-day winning streak, as concerns over low demand following a surprise US crude inventory build outweighed jitters over global trade disruptions due to tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude futures fell 22 cents, or 0.3%, to $79.48 a barrel early this morning, while…

The Government has announced the largest ever expansion of the employment permits system, in an effort to address the skills gap in a range of key areas amid full employment in the economy. 11 new roles have been added to the list of occupations classed as critical skills, including Meteorologist, Project Engineer, Professional Forester and…

More than a quarter of employees expect they will be responding to work emails over Christmas, according to a new survey. The Human Workplace Index from Workhuman found that 22% of employees say they will not be able to fully switch off from work over their Christmas holidays, while 28% admitted that their large workload…

January was the busiest month for flight bookings this year as consumers sought to escape the winter blues, an annual review of AIB’s Spend Trend has revealed. Wednesday, January 11 was the busiest individual day, the analysis reveals, with spending on flights at 57% above the daily average. The annual spending review shows that overall…

British inflation plunged in November to its lowest rate in over two years, prompting investors to pile further into bets that the Bank of England will cut interest rates next year. The annual rate of increase in the consumer prices index dropped to 3.9% from 4.6% in October, pushed down in part by petrol prices,…

The European Central Bank said today it had raised capital requirements for 20 banks after judging they had not set aside enough cash to cover for loans that had gone unpaid, a key concern for supervisors at a time of high borrowing costs. The move was part of the ECB’s push, set to continue next…

Construction costs here have gone up by almost a quarter in the last four years, an analysis by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland has concluded. In its latest Housing Market Monitor, the BPFI said construction price inflation of 23% between the end of 2019 and the third quarter of this year compares to inflation…