Top Stories

“Continuous strain”: Courts Service at resource and staffing breaking point

Striking solicitors are not the only ones complaining about funding for the courts. Released files shows the agency's CEO recently warned the incoming secretary general in justice of staff shortages and budget gaps stalling judicial and technological reforms.

The €2bn Belfast family business keeping its Irish tax and profit figures under wraps

W&R Barnett is one of the largest privately held agribusinesses in the UK and Ireland – and the first to avail of an exemption from new EU financial transparency obligations.

Can Apple’s new CEO rev up the Steve Jobs innovation engine?

To help the company reach new heights, John Ternus must take it beyond the supply chain mastery of Tim Cook, who built it into a $5 trillion colossus, writes Rolfe Winkler, The Wall Street Journal.

The summer that scorched French grapes, English gardens—and Europe’s economy

Record heat withered crops, strained businesses and upended everyday life. It happened faster than anyone expected, write David Luhnow, Stacy Meichtry and Ed Ballard, The Wall Street Journal.

The world’s drinks order is in. Distillers were expecting more

Alcohol companies are swamped with aged spirits including cognac, bourbon and Scotch whisky, writes Carol Ryan, The Wall Street Journal.

Michael Corcoran’s social life: “We had to figure out how to do it differently”

One year after founding the social media consultancy Slice, the man previously known for putting Ryanair on the online map is confident he has finally found the business model he had been chasing for the past 15 years.

An “undue” burden: Nuns and golf course among 30-plus to appeal RZLT

Appeals against the residential-zoned land tax were also filed in recent weeks by developers, State bodies, and farmers. Many cases illustrate the lack of infrastructure to service new housing developments.

Dolly Parton: A life defying expectations

Multiplatinum recording artist and Hollywood actress was also a philanthropist and the head of her own entertainment empire, writes Alan Light, The Wall Street Journal.

Top Voices

Peter Kinsella: Talk thirty to me – part deux

The trend towards higher long-end bond yields is confirmed. There are few winners in this game – apart from banks.

Paul McArdle: The Irish start-up betting that AI can reinvent the CRM

Ahoy founders Kevin Bluett and Monique Eisenach left HubSpot to build software that does more than record what businesses do — it helps them get things done.

The budget Kabuki must end: Rewinding the week that was

The real budget problem is not what happens on budget day – it is the lack of discipline that follows it.

How Irish farming transformed the Saudi desert into a dairy empire

It is 50 years since Masstock starting building a vast dairy operation in Saudi Arabia. Co-founder Alastair McGuckian, who celebrated his 90th birthday this week, reflects on a lifetime bringing Irish farming expertise to the world.

Stewardship or subsidies? Why the State should means-test corporate green grants

The State is using public money to de-risk major climate and energy projects of big business. But is it subsidising those with the capital to act alone at the expense of homeowners and SMEs navigating the green transition?

John Looby: Ignore the noise – there is little new in finance

New technology, new personalities and new financial instruments can create the illusion of change. But beneath the surface, finance remains driven by the same old forces — and the same old mistakes.

Stuart Fitzgerald: Lessons from Brexit Britain show in economic data from both sides of the Irish Sea

Ireland may not have any intergalactic space warriors, but it still has growth.

Watchdog barks, Government spends, multinationals pay – for now

Spending €1bn a year on petrol and diesel subsidies is a lot, but this is just one of several billion-euro levers the Government has access to in the lead up to the budget – unless Ireland finally loses its immunity from successive international crises.