Investment companies with subsidiaries in Ireland have invested €5.7 billion in fossil fuels since the landmark Paris climate agreement of 2015, a new report has revealed. The research by charity ActionAid claimed Ireland was a “significant channel” for global investment in fossils fuels and industrial agriculture with funds registered here holding billions of euros in bonds and shares in climate-harming activities in the global south, which comprises large parts of Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and most of Asia. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.
By trying to glom on to people over August when they were contentedly decompressing, writes Miranda Green, I was in danger of creating resentment – none of the necessary interest in others, which in my case is usually very genuine, was in evidence. I was being too nakedly self-serving, trying to cram these people into my schedule, one they found irksome in the heat.
The Government has been urged to use its large budget surplus to improve Dublin’s transport infrastructure, writes Eoin Burke_Kennedy. “With 140,000 commuters heading to Dublin for work, the city’s commuter belt in the Greater Dublin Area and beyond needs better public transport – this includes Dart+ and MetroLink, as well as rail and bus projects further from the city in places like Naas, Bray and Navan,” Dublin Chamber chief executive Mary Rose Burke said.
The inflation outlook is confusing enough without having two inflation yardsticks, each giving a different read on where prices in Ireland are at. According to the official measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prices here rose at an annual rate of 5.8 per cent in July, but according to the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP), headline inflation in Ireland was 4.6 per cent in July. Eoin Burke-Kennedy explains what’s going on.
New technology developed at University College Cork could “significantly reduce” seizures for people with drug-resistant epilepsy, researchers have claimed. Tyndall National Institute, the deep-tech research centre based in UCC, on Monday announced a breakthrough in the development of a new type of neurostimulator, a device similar to a pacemaker that can be implanted in the brain. Ian Curran reports.
Irish digital marketing group Xtremepush has acquired UK-based Thunderbite, a leading provider of free-to-play games, for an undisclosed sum. The Dublin-headquartered tech business has been on something of a growth surge. In 2021, it successfully completed a $33 million (€30.6 million) capital raise while last year it opened a new office in New York to support accelerated growth in North America, where its clients include Groupe Dynamite, Piping Rock, Oregon State Lottery, PlayUp and PlayStar. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports.
‘We are in unchartered waters on health insurance pricing’
BDO Ireland has hired Permanent TSB’s (PTSB) former head of business banking, Mags Brennan, as a debt advisory partner, at a time when businesses are dealing with rising borrowing costs and scores of nonbank lenders have filled various parts of the market following a retreat by overseas banks since the 2008 crash. Joe Brennan reports.
Electrification remains the best opportunity to lower total energy bills for households due to significant efficiency gains over car engines and oil boilers. It also allows consumers take advantage of cheap night-time electricity to power electric vehicles or batteries for use during the day. To unlock this value for Irish society, significant investment is needed in energy efficiency, heat pump installation, distributed generation and the provision of power grids to transport more electricity to our homes and businesses, argues Dara Lynott, chief executive of the Electricity Association of Ireland,
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