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Retailers have expressed deep concern at Government plans to introduce minimum unit price (MUP) rules for alcohol before similar measures are put in place in Northern Ireland. Retail Ireland has warned that such a move, without alignment with the North, is likely to lead to a surge in cross-border shopping, with people travelling into Northern…

The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, has said expenditure by the Government will be higher than the average 3.5% increase in core spending detailed in the Stability Programme Update. Minister Donohoe was responding to a question from Sinn Féin spokesperson on finance, Pearse Doherty, at an appearance before the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight this…

A new report from the Central Statistics Office finds evidence that Brexit has led to an overall decline in trade between Ireland and the UK in food and drink products and a decline in Irish trade overall. The report – entitled ‘Food and Agriculture: A Value Chain Analysis’ – compares exports of food and drink…

The chief executive of the employers’ group Ibec has written to the Government to outline what the organisation sees as the key priorities for the reopening of the economy. In the letter sent to the Taoiseach and other ministers, Danny McCoy said Ibec thinks the priorities strike the correct balance between the ongoing public health…

Most small and medium sized businesses in the food sector expect their revenues to increase in the year ahead, according to new research by Love Irish Food and PwC. The 2021 Irish SME Food Barometer found that 75% of companies in the sector are optimistic about their growth prospects. The findings suggest that there is…

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has said there will be “no abrupt end” to the Covid financial supports. Over the coming weeks, Michael McGrath said the Government will finalise its approach for those supports beyond the end of June, when they are due to finish. The Minister said the Government will be very…

Business confidence jumped in April to higher levels than seen even before the Covid-19 pandemic, as they eye the rollout of vaccines and some easing of restrictions, according to Bank of Ireland. The latest Bank of Ireland business pulse index rose by 14.3 points from March to 88.9 for the current month, according to a…

The first quarter of 2021 saw a significant increase in “necessity-led entrepreneurship” across the retail and wholesale sectors, the latest figures from credit risk analyst CRIFVision-Net show. Today’s figures reveal an 88% year-on-year increase in retail trade and wholesale start-ups. CRIFVision-Net said this suggested that the continued Covid-19 public health restrictions and resulting job losses…

Like many economic predictions when it comes to the pandemic, forecasts around the health insurance market have turned out to be wide of the mark. Given the impact Covid-19 has had on employment and incomes, it was reasonable to assume that health insurance would be high on the list of products that households would look…

Consumer sentiment climbed slightly to hit its highest in April since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey showed today, but consumers expressed caution about the long-term economic outlook. The KBC Bank consumer sentiment index rose for a third month in a row to 77.9 in April from 77.1 in March. This was still…