Top Stories

Cannabis, beer, and wellness: Meet Tilray Brands, Ireland’s newest publican

On Monday, the US lifestyle and pharmaceutical firm spent £33m buying up assets tied to troubled craft brewer BrewDog. Its Dublin outpost, which employs over 50 people, is among them.

Jack Dorsey’s latest far-out bet: An AI future with fewer employees

Block—owner of payment apps, bitcoin and music streaming—grew its workforce to nearly 13,000 during the pandemic, writes Angel Au-Yeung, The Wall Street Journal.

Private provision – Part 1: €2bn on refugee accommodation paid to just 15 groups

The Currency examined 32,000 payments worth €6.3bn paid to more than 800 recipients since 2020 to piece together the key groups active in the private refugee accommodation sector.

Petrol

Attacks in Qatar, Saudi Arabia drag energy sector into Mideast conflict

Qatar halts LNG production and tanker traffic comes to virtual stop at key waterway, as Iranian attacks raise risks for global economy, write Summer Said, Georgi Kantchev and Benoit Faucon, The Wall Street Journal.

Firm linked to developer Greg Kavanagh sued over €1.8m share deal

The company is being sued for specific performance of a share-purchase deal linked to a residential development site at Longwood Village in Co Meath.

They built the hottest firm on Wall Street. Now they have to save it.

Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz made Blue Owl a private-credit behemoth with bets on software, AI and individual investors. It is starting to show cracks, write Gregory Zuckerman, Matt Wirz and Peter Rudegeair, The Wall Street Journal.

Mediation with Government leads to successful settlement in Ipas rows

A government U-turn halting the development of new Ipas centres for asylum seekers sparked a flurry of High Court damages claims by developers alleging they are millions out of pocket. Mediation of these cases is beginning to bear fruit.

€400k pensions headache: Department of Education left with legacy overpayment blunder

The department’s new shared service office faces a major clean-up job pursuing overpayments in 32 legacy cases due to errors in education and training board payments to retirees dating back 15 years.

Top Voices

Joe Gill: Iran war explains why airline shares trade lower than other companies’

In a business exposed to pandemics and geopolitical threats, the risk of taking on debt is higher for airlines. This has consequences for their shareholders, whether they are governments or stock-market investors.

Lessons from Frank: Back to school in Barcelona

A week at IESE Business School on Enterprise Ireland’s Leading Edge programme challenged 20 Irish business leaders to rethink strategy, leadership – and what we do about loyal employees like Frank Nash.

How Irish folk musicians put me back on my feet: Rewinding the week that was

The open mind and sheer energy of the current Irish music scene would do you good. It is tapping into a solid tradition without falling into the trap of fake purity.

What is amateurism and what is austerity? The GAA is in danger of confusing one for the other

With revenues rising and standards at an elite level, the GAA must decide how to protect amateurism without suppressing ambition.

Brett Igoe: The last dance can’t be Twickenham — Ireland must kick on

Twickenham answered lots of questions about this team, and the reaction of the coaching staff showed it. It was Ireland's recalibration. Now comes the test of whether they can sustain it.

Dan O’Brien: Checks, balances – and growing trade imbalances

The US Supreme Court ruling is a constitutional landmark, but it does little to settle the deeper shift toward protectionism. For Europe — and especially Ireland’s pharma-driven economy — the outlook is increasingly fragile.

Tara Shine: Is your business flood-ready? 

Episodes of heavy rains like the start of this year will become more frequent. Here are six steps every company can take to prepare for the next one.

Why the EU wants to watch investment funds more closely – and where Irish resistance is headed

To roll out a European savings and investments union, the debate on centralised vs national supervision could land on a middle-ground solution. Will Ireland and Luxembourg accept it?