News

Aer Lingus and British Airways owner IAG is to order 50 Boeing 737 MAX jets for delivery between 2023 and 2027, in a vote of confidence in the struggling US planemaker. The order for 25 737-8-200 and 25 737 MAX 10 jets to be used for short-haul operations at IAG-owned airlines is worth $6.25 billion…

British inflation leapt last month to its highest annual rate since 1982, piling pressure on finance minister Rishi Sunak to step up help for households facing a worsening cost-of-living crisis. UK consumer price inflation hit 9% in April, the Office for National Statistics said. This surpassed even the peaks of the early 1990s recession that…

A national campaign to address staff shortages in the tourism and hospitality sectors is being launched today by Fáilte Ireland. The €700,000 marketing drive will run across national radio, print, online platforms and social media. The aim of the initiative is to attract more people to jobs in the sector as the tourism industry faces…

Gas reliably generated more than half the country’s electricity in April as the contribution from wind generation dropped to about one third, new figures show today. The figures from Gas Networks Ireland show that gas generated 52% of Ireland’s electricity in April, up 27% on March’s level of 41% and 37% on the first quarter…

Drinks group C&C has reported a near 88% increase in revenues for the year to the end of February and said its new fiscal year had started strongly with more price hikes likely on the way. C&C said its revenues jumped by 87.8% to €1.438 billion from €765.8m the previous year. The company also reported…

The chief executives of the main banks here are to meet representatives of the Central Bank today to discuss plans for the departure of Ulster Bank and KBC from the market. The regulator summoned the remaining banks to a meeting in recent weeks as it called publicly on them to do more to facilitate hundreds…

Rising input costs and inflationary pressures have been identified as the top threat to business growth in the food sector here. In a survey of 70 small and medium sized food firms carried out by the food business representative group Love Irish Food, and professional services firm, PwC, 97% identified those areas as presenting the…

Just 1% of people here have their main current account with a digital bank, a survey of consumers carried out on behalf of the Department of Finance has found. While thousands of people use services like Revolut to transfer money, the fintech recently expanded their presence in the Irish market offering a full banking service…

New orders in the construction sector fell last month, as a result of near-record cost increases, the latest construction purchasing managers index for Ireland from BNP Paribas Real Estate has found. However, despite the depressed demand, purchasing, activity and employment all rose further, it found. “The latest PMI confirms that construction activity continued to expand…

Ryanair has today posted a €355m loss for the pandemic-hit 12 months to the end of March. The airline said it was impossible to accurately forecast anything beyond hoping for a return to “reasonable profitability” this year. The airline has been operating more flights than any other European airline according to air traffic regulator Eurocontrol.…