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Irish Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Insurers and businesses call for injury guidelines reform
Insurers, business lobby groups and the Injuries Resolution Board (IRB) have called for an overhaul of how personal injury awards guidelines are set, amid concern that a planned 16.7 per cent hike to payouts will widen the gap with other European jurisdictions when it comes to whiplashes and other minor injuries. Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan's officials are working on draft legislation that would bring about the increase, which has been put forward by the Judicial Council under an awards guidelines regime that came into being four years ago. Joe Brennan has the details. Smokers pay tens of thousands of euro more for life insurance and mortgage protection than non-smokers, according to new research from price comparison and switching website For mortgage protection – a legal requirement for anyone taking out a mortgage in Ireland – a 38-year-old couple can pay as little as €35.60 a month for €300,000 in cover over 30 years as long as they're both non-smokers. Conor Pope reports READ MORE Dutch private equity group Waterland is to invest a further €150 million here over the next year and a half as it looks to add to its growing portfolio of Irish companies. At a time when the wider industry is reportedly pulling back on new investments and fundraises, the group's Irish arm signalled on Friday that it plans to 'dramatically' ramp up its expansion plans in the Republic, writes Ian Curran. Ford Chief Lisa Brankin on accelerating the switch to EVs Listen | 41:35 More than two-thirds of job applications are rejected by employers because they lack the relevant skills for the role, new research has found , with others binned because applications are badly formatted or due to unexplained gaps in employment. The survey, which was carried out for hiring platform IrishJobs, found that 78 per cent of employers are dissatisfied with the quality of job applications received, making it slower and more resource-intensive for employers. Ciara O'Brien reports. Average Irish mortgage approval values rose to a record of more than €319,000 in April, new figures from the banking industry reveal, as house prices continued to climb, requiring property owners to take on higher levels of debt, reports Ian Curran. At 7.55am most weekday mornings, about 60 staff at the Seating Matters' manufacturing facility in Limavady, Co Derry meet for 45 minutes with the family owners and management. The factory makes therapeutic seating for people with disabilities. It's part training session to sharpen skills and knowledge, and partly a platform for both sides to air any issues from the previous day and is practice imported from Japanese business culture, Martin Tierney, managing director of Seating Matters tells Ciarán Hancock . He is one of 140 Irish business leaders in Japan this week as part of a CEO retreat organised by the EY Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) programme. For the last two months European businesses have been facing 10 per cent tariffs, which are import taxes, when selling goods into the US. Cars and steel products sold from the EU to the US have been subject to 25 per cent levies. The threat of across-the-board tariffs of 20 per cent, or even 50 per cent, if negotiations failed, has caused growing alarm across European industries. Jack Power brings us inside a crucial week in the trade talks between the European Union and the US A key lesson from the miserable economic performance of the 1980s is that it is vital to act quickly when in a fiscal crisis. Spreading the adjustment out over the course of a decade made things worse rather than easier, argues John FitzGerald in his weekly column . In the financial crisis that began in 2008-09, this lesson was learned. The really painful adjustment was completed between 2010 and 2013, resulting in a rapid and sustained recovery from 2014. While many at the time argued for a slower adjustment, it is likely that would only have prolonged the agony, as in the 1980s. The Linwoods brand was for most of its history best known as a bread and milk producer and wholesaler but, amid changing economic fortunes and increased competition from multinationals, the family-owned company began to struggle. 'My father always says 'evolve or die',' managing director Patrick Woods told Hugh Dooley in our interview slot . Linwoods has since evolved into one of the largest health food companies in Ireland, with distribution links with big retailers across the UK. If you'd like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money , the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.
Irish Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Higher price energy costing Irish consumers almost €500 more than EU average each year
Irish consumers pay almost 30 per cent more than the EU average for electricity while the cost of domestic gas is almost 10 per cent higher with the cumulative impact costing Irish households close to €500 a year, new figures suggest. According to the data from Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency, electricity prices in Ireland are the third most expensive in the EU and almost 30 per cent above the average, with only Germans and Danes paying more to heat and light their homes. The net price of electricity before VAT and other taxes are applied sees Ireland leapfrog those two countries because the VAT rate here currently stands at 9 per cent compared to the rate of around 20 per cent which is attached to electricity in other EU countries. The impact of the higher prices means Irish households are paying around €350 more per year for their electricity compared to other EU countries. READ MORE Gas prices are also elevated although not to the same extent, the Eurostat figures show. Ireland is the sixth most expensive country in the EU for domestic gas with prices nearly 10 per cent above the EU average. The financial impact of that sees Irish households paying around €125 more per year for their gas compared to other EU countries. 'Irish households have been paying electricity prices that are well above the EU average for years so these latest figures from Eurostat aren't surprising unfortunately,' said Daragh Cassidy of price comparison and switching website He described the reasons for the higher prices as 'complex' and pointed to a 'relatively small and dispersed population with too much one-off housing.' He said the 'costs for the upkeep of our electricity network are very high on a per capita basis [and the] rapid growth of the population and the increase in the number of data centres in recent years also hasn't helped. This is putting pressure on the grid.' He noted that in recent years Ireland has had to procure high cost, high emission, emergency gas generation to plug the gap between electricity demand and supply. 'Many of our power plants are also older and smaller than those in other countries so we don't benefit from efficiencies and economies of scale as much,' Mr Cassidy continued. 'We also have a weakly connected grid. We're quite isolated so we can't import a huge amount of cheaper electricity from abroad. Though the interconnector we're building with France will hopefully improve things when it comes online in 2027 as it will allow us to tap into generally cheaper French electricity.' He downplayed the impact of an increased supply of wind generated power on prices at least in the short to medium term. 'Wind is far cleaner for the environment and will help us meet our climate change targets and avoid hefty EU fines which is positive. But the price we're paying most wind farms for the electricity they generate is around €90 to €100 per MWh, which is not far off the prices we're already paying now.' He reminded households that there were still easy ways to save money. 'Anyone who switches electricity provider could get a discounted rate as low as 24 or 25c per kWh for a year. This would put prices on a par with those in Spain and be below the EU average. It's similar for gas. And if you have a smart meter that you have activated – see if you can move your electricity use to times when it's less expensive.'
