The volume and value of personal loan drawdowns hit another record in 2024 as consumers borrowed to fund car purchases, home improvements and holidays against a backdrop of falling interest rates.
On Friday, Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), the main lobbying body for the banking sector in the Republic, said non-mortgage, personal loan activity surged to the highest levels since 2020, when its data series began. Ian Curran has the details.
“I am baffled by all the companies doing an about-face on their social initiatives right now. Did you not actually mean it in the first place? Either don’t do it, or do it and stay doing it, but don’t do this ‘DEI is cancelled now. It’s very odd to me.” Stripe co-founder John Collison speaks to Ciara O’Brien in our Interview of the Week slot.
The past six months have seen the receivership of Waterford Distillery, Killarney Brewing and Distilling Company enter examinership, and Blackwater Distillery needing a rescue plan approved to stay afloat. Hugh Dooley takes the temperature of the Irish whiskey sector as it grapples with US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The EU as a bloc is better placed than individual governments to foster a step change in pharmaceutical research, writes John FitzGerald in his weekly column. No one government has the resources to undertake this task on its own, across a spectrum of potential new treatments. While the cost would be substantial, it would be small relative to what’s planned for new defence spending.
Fionn Lahart and Christoph Hennersperger, co-founders of Luma Vision, have been chosen as The Irish Times Business People of the Month for April, an award run in association with Bank of Ireland.
‘I’ve entrepreneurial spirit in my veins’ – Apprentice star Jordan Dargan
In April, the Irish medical technology company announced that it had secured US regulatory clearance for its cardiac imaging device for use in the treatment of patients suffering from arrhythmias.
We have got used to trying to assess the damage that may come from Donald Trump’s tariffs and what these might mean for growth and tax revenue, writes Cliff Taylor in Smart Money.
But as this plays out, uncertainty itself is taking a toll, even if this is not yet showing up in national economic figures bar some wobbles in indices which measure the confidence of consumers and businesses. The Irish economy is experiencing a silent slowdown, driven mainly by a fall-off in capital investment by businesses.
The eyeroll says it all. You’re in another meeting with that manager who loves meetings about meetings. She’s waffling on again and your colleagues are failing to contain their disdain; it’s all nail-biting, clock-watching, side-eye glancing and leg jiggling. As usual this meeting is nothing more than a time suck, writes Margaret E Ward.
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