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Ireland’s Skills Strategy is to be reviewed as part of a joint project between the state, stakeholders in the skills sector and the OECD. The review, led by the OECD, will focus on how Ireland is equipped to meet current and future skills needs as well as examining how businesses and employees can be supported…

The Central Bank has left its mortgage rules unchanged after its annual review was published today. However, it will now let banks carry forward above-limit loans approved from one calendar year to the next. The Central Bank also announced its intention to introduce new rules for property funds. The mortgage rules are part of the…

Almost half of restaurant and takeaway owners have adopted new technologies since the start of the pandemic, according to new research by Irish food ordering software developer Flipdish. 44% of those businesses invested over €1,500 to do so. The most popular technology adaptations were website ordering and QR code table ordering technology. The research reveals…

Just over a quarter of first-time buyers of homes were aged 30 or under last year, according to an analysis of data carried out by the Banking and Payments Federation. That represents a halving of the proportion in 2004 when six in ten people taking out mortgages for the first time were in that age…

Euro zone governments should keep spending next year to help the post-pandemic recovery, though to different degrees depending on their debt level, the European Commission said today. They should also use cash from the EU’s recovery fund to boost investment, the Commission added. “For the euro area, we call for a moderately supportive fiscal stance…

A group of truckers and hauliers are leading convoys from the main motorways around Dublin into the city centre today, protesting for “lower fuel costs at the pump and at home”. The group, describing itself as Irish Truckers Haulage Association Against Fuel Prices, said it is protesting for “lower fuel costs at the pump and…

A spokesperson for the Music and Entertainment Association of Ireland has appealed directly to the Taoiseach to intervene and introduce supports for the industry. On RTÉ’s Drivetime, Matt McGranaghan called for the immediate reinstatement of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, or an equivalent support, for those in the music industry who were forced off the payments…

The Minister for Finance has published the terms of reference for a “broad-ranging” review into the retail banking sector, which will consider services provided by both banks and non-banks, as the latter becomes more active in the provision of SME credit and mortgage lending. Back in July, Paschal Donohoe said his department would conduct such…

New figures show that debit and credit card fraud losses rose by 9% to reach €24.1m last year with over 275,000 fraudulent debit and credit card transactions. The Banking & Payments Federation Ireland figures show that 96% of the losses was accounted for by online card fraud which rose by 21% to €23.1m. With shopping…

Consumer confidence has dropped to a seven-month low as Covid cases continue to surge, according to the latest KBC Bank Ireland consumer sentiment index. The reading for November declined to 83.1, from 86.8 in October. That is the largest monthly fall since January and brings the sentiment index to its lowest level since April. As…