Further blow to publicans as Diageo raises price of Guinness; Ireland’s reliance on FDI under scrutiny
The stories you need to read this evening in business, politics and current affairs
Publicans call on Guinness-owner Diageo to reconsider increase to price of pint
Publicans called on Guinness-owner Diageo to reconsider increasing the cost of a pint by 12 cent plus Vat and said that it “couldn’t come at a worse time.”
Diageo announced that it will increase the cost of all of its range of products from the start of February to the on-trade from next month as it faces its own inflationary pressures. Paul Clancy, chief executive of the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), said that pub owners were “extremely frustrated by the move” and will most likely have to pass the cost onto customers, at a time when consumer sentiment is already waning.
The move follows a similar increase by Heineken last year which resulted in a backlash from publicans, some of whom removed the brewing giant’s taps from their pubs.
Coveney: Lack of leaks in Brexit negotiations has led to progress on NI Protocol
The lack of leaks from the current round of Brexit negotiations played a critical role in the progress made this week on the Northern Ireland protocol, Simon Coveney said.
The UK and the EU have reached an agreement on access to a new British database providing real-time information on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland, in the first sign of progress in talks over the protocol. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment said that increased trust between the parties and the arrival of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister has also helped negotiations.
Reliance on foreign direct investment ‘under scrutiny’ - Enterprise Ireland CEO
Recent job cuts in the tech sector has put Ireland’s reliance on foreign direct investment (FDI) under scrutiny, the chief executive of Enterprise Ireland said.
Leo Clancy told the Business Post that while job losses at large employers including Amazon, Meta, and Twitter have raised questions around the country’s reliance on FDI, the government’s strategy for economic growth should be to prioritise Irish-owned businesses regardless of economic circumstances. “We should be home-grown focused and not because of any one cause. We need the Irish enterprise sector to be bigger and stronger. We aim to grow the base of large Irish-owned companies by 50 per cent by 2030,” Clancy said.
Tax breaks for developers being considered to activate idle planning permissions
Tax breaks for developers will be considered as part of plans to activate 70,000 idle planning permissions for homes, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said.
Speaking after a special housing summit in the Department of the Taoiseach with construction industry and voluntary housing bodies, Varadkar said that he wanted to find ways of de-risking the 70,000 unactivated planning permissions for homes, mainly apartments, so that they could be constructed “if not this year, certainly next year.”
Irish living standards fall again as inflation outstrips rise in earnings
Irish households suffered another fall in their living standards in the third quarter of 2022, new figures showed, with persistent inflation leaving people with lower disposable incomes.
Data published today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that living standards have now fallen in three of the last four quarters amid rising costs and a dampening economic outlook.
