What Wednesday's papers say

IRISH TIMES

- The Irish Times says Hines and Peterson, the developers who bought the old Central Bank HQ in Dublin, plan to raise the building's roof in a €75m redevelopment, and are seeking permission from Dublin City Council to put a 300-seat rooftop restaurant in the building.

- The paper quotes government sources as saying that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's interventions on how Britain might withdraw from the EU were designed to assist those in Britain who are pushing for a softer Brexit.

- The Irish Times says the wife and son of property developer Sean Dunne are seeking to draw Nama and Ulster Bank into the legal battle with the official overseeing his US bankruptcy.

- The paper says outgoing Paddy Power Betfair chief executive Breon Corcoran is leaving the gambling giant to seek opportunities in a different industry.

FINANCIAL TIMES

- The Financial Times leads with a warning from a deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sam Woods, about the risks the financial system faces from a "cliff-edge" Brexit, following an audit of the sector's worst-case plans.

- The FT reports that a Google employee who wrote a memo arguing that women were less suited than men to engineering and leadership jobs in the tech industry has been sacked by the Silicon Valley company.

- In companies news, the paper says British American Tobacco has tapped investors for at least £15 billion in one of the largest corporate bond deals of the year, as low borrowing costs and a fierce appetite for debt help persuade companies to lever up.

- The FT says British fast-fashion retailer New Look has warned that "challenging market conditions" will persist into next year, as it reported a slump in quarterly profits on the back of tough trading in Britain.

IRISH INDEPENDENT

- The Irish Independent leads with a report that FAI boss John Delaney formally proposed the annual payment of a €60,000 allowance for ex-OCI president Pat Hickey. It says, however, that Delaney told Judge Carroll Moran's inquiry into the Rio Olympic ticketing controversy he was not involved in preparing the report which recommended the payment.

- FBD chief Fiona Muldoon has told the paper that investment returns for insurance firms are at their lowest level in at least 25 years, meaning strict assessment criteria have to be applied in selecting clients and setting premiums.

- The Irish Independent says Cork-based developer John Cleary's JCD Group has been given the go-ahead by the city's planners to build a five-storey office building capable of accommodating 450 workers at 85-86 South Mall.

- The paper reports on minutes of the Central Bank Commission's June meeting, which heard that there have been few Brexit-related effects on Ireland's financial sector or economy, and no applications from banks to set up in Ireland in the first half of 2017.

IRISH EXAMINER

- The Irish Examiner reports on a warning from Fianna Fáil that Irish hospitals may soon be unable to guarantee "routine" services as a basic right to patients due to the severe strain record-breaking new waiting list figures are putting on the system.

- The paper says a blueprint for the development of Tivoli docklands in Cork proposes building 4,000 housing units, shopping centres, offices and a railway station. Port of Cork is preparing to vacate the Tivoli docks in the next few years.

- The Examiner says residents in north Dublin have raised fire safety concerns about the height of a 16-storey building that developer Gerry Gannon wants to build at Clongriffin.

- The paper reports on a claim from internet and TV provider Virgin Media that too much "red tape" is holding up the roll-out of rural broadband, saying the National Broadband Plan promoted by the Government has too many legal complications.