Author: admin@fmb

Euro zone business activity contracted sharply and unexpectedly this month as the bloc’s dominant services industry flatlined while a downturn in manufacturing accelerated, a survey showed today. The downturn appeared broadbased with Germany, Europe’s largest economy, seeing its decline deepen while France – the currency union’s second biggest – returned to contraction following August’s Olympics […]

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The Construction Industry Federation is holding its annual conference in Croke Park in Dublin today, which will focus on addressing population growth. The CIF is calling for a greater allocation of ring-fenced capital as well as maintenance investment in Ireland’s water, wastewater and electricity infrastructure in Budget 2025. It says at least 60,000 houses a […]

Read More… from CIF says 60,000 houses a year needed to meet demand

The first payments of the Government’s fuel allowance will be made this week. The means-tested payment will be paid for 28 weeks to over 400,000 households across the State. The allowance was introduced in the late 1980s as a way to help pensioners and long-term social welfare recipients with the costs of heating their homes […]

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Nearly one third of all jobs are poised to be fundamentally transformed by generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), according to a new study. The research by management consulting firm Sia Partners shows that more than 80% of tasks in these roles are primed for automation, driven by the rapid expansion of Large Language Models (LLMs) and […]

Read More… from GenAI to automate over 80% of tasks in nearly one third of all jobs – study

Bank of Ireland said new analysis shows that competition for homes intensified during the summer with almost 40% of transactions now being settled at a minimum 10% premium over the original asking price. The bank noted that the average mortgage approval for house purchase was €318,300 in July, up 6.2%. Bank of Ireland said this […]

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90% of Irish CEOs believe there will be a return to pre-pandemic ways of working in the office within the next three years, according to new research. KPMG’s 10th annual CEO Outlook survey shows that Irish business leaders have strong confidence in the local and global economy, as well as significant plans to invest in […]

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21% of adults here do not have any financial arrangements in place for retirement, a new survey has found. That is up four percentage points on last year, according to the research by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). The consumer watchdog also found the absence of provision increases to 28% among those aged […]

Read More… from 21% of adults have no financial arrangements in place for retirement – CCPC

New research shows that 84% of businesses are planning to increase pay in 2025, with respondents forecasting an average increase of 3.4% across all business sectors. Business group Ibec has published the first part of its annual HR Workplace and Trends report showing that 85% of respondents increased basic pay by an average of 4.1% […]

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New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that residential property prices grew by 9.6% in the year to July – their highest growth rate in 21 months. The CSO said the national residential property price index is now 12% above the April 2007 peak of the country’s last property boom. Today’s CSO figures show […]

Read More… from Annual house price growth accelerates to 9.6% in July – CSO

The US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by half of a percentage point, kicking off what is expected to be a steady easing of monetary policy with a larger-than-usual reduction in borrowing costs that followed growing unease about the health of the job market. “The committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving […]

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