The Currency

“There are bigger social issues at play; the Government has to hold democracy together” The Fiscal Advisory Council believes the government is going too far in Budget 2025. Danny McCoy, the head of the country’s biggest business lobby group, disagrees. The Ibec boss explains why. https://lnkd.in/euiDy3t9

Colm McCarthy: The government is parking the problem on city-centre congestion The government is publicly committed to the €2 billion Bus Connects project, a bargain alongside the €10 billion ballpark for MetroLink. But an even better scheme is available: Just free up the kerbside lanes of parked cars. https://lnkd.in/en3ikcj3

Text messages, “constant attacks”, and a board of luminaries who made no submissions https://lnkd.in/d46BcHBq

The inspectors appointed by the High Court to INM focused on five key areas. Some of their findings are nuanced. Some are stark. And some will require further examination by the State's corporate watchdog. Ian Kehoe reports:

The Irish video-game services firm Keywords Studios is nearing a €2.5 billion deal to be taken private. But outside the boardroom, workers in the US and Europe are striking over AI and lay-offs. Jonathan Keane reports:

Net migration is volatile in Ireland and may well rise and fall over the coming years. But what seems far less likely to change is longer-run structural changes in society, all of which point to smaller households. This needs to be central in the housing discussion, not migration, writes Ronan Lyons:

Today on The Currency. Altra, the nursing home communications start-up, recently signed a big deal in the UK and is eyeing expansion in Europe. https://lnkd.in/eyz2ZEJU

Kenneth Donfield has been fighting for five years to stay in the modest bedsit apartment that has been his home for over 20 years in a building now owned by a Waters company. The case will go to the High Court, Niall Sargent reports:

Data centres. Energy. Greenhouse gas emissions. We dig deeper into efforts to square that circle.