PTSB in court, and health insurers’ €125m unpaid hospital bill

A small number of “tiny” shareholders in PTSB have claimed in court that they are paying for the Irish Government’s exit as part of Austrian lender Bawag’s proposed €1.6 billion deal for the Irish bank. Stephen Conneely reports from the first day of the hearing being held to sanction the takeover, which received Government approval in the summer.

It is very hard to imagine the boss of a private sector company not wanting to apportion responsibility for a failure to collect hundreds of millions of euro. Yet, that is precisely Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill’s approach to the €125 million in unpaid debts from private insurers written off by public hospitals. Actually, someone is to blame, writes John McManus.

Putting your spare cash towards an additional voluntary contribution to your pension is always a good idea. Yet, with the Government-backed personal investment accounts set to open next July, Joanne Hunt asks: are your spare savings better off going there instead?

A Dublin-based firm, owned by a US biotechnology company, that sells genetic data to third parties for health research purposes reported pretax profits of almost €5 million last year, according to new accounts. Stephen Conneely has the story.

Ireland’s consumer watchdog has written to retailers across the country, warning them that they are failing to display the prices they charge for paper bags and similar products. They could be exposing themselves to fines and legal action unless they display clearly what costs consumers are likely to face for all elements of their purchase. Conor Pope reports.

The legal dispute between Lord of the Dance star Michael Flatley and his former solicitor has intensified as both sides made submissions to the High Court on Tuesday in the case over money lodged in court in the wake of the battle for Flatley’s Cork mansion, Castlehyde.

More bad news for Irish renters: they are among those bearing the brunt of the ongoing spike in inflation. Reporting on new Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Eoin Burke-Kennedy writes that people who are renting their homes experienced consumer price inflation of 4.3 per cent last month compared with 4.1 per cent for those with a mortgage and just 3.7 per cent for those who own their homes outright.

Sticking with inflation, Ciara O’Brien reports that Irish wholesale electricity prices almost doubled in the 12 months to the end of September, according to the CSO.

DAA, the State-owned operator of Dublin and Cork airports, has appointed Land Development Agency (LDA) chief executive John Coleman as its new boss, replacing Kenny Jacobs, who stepped down earlier this year. Coleman will be in situ for seven years, DAA said in a statement on Tuesday, and will take up the role early in 2027.

Gordon Deegan writes that the Irish arm of high street fashion giant H&M reported a 13 per cent jump in pretax profits last year to €4.36 million, despite a slump in online sales.

Meanwhile, Microsoft will offer redundancy packages to up to 60,000 staff as the tech giant tries to keep costs under control and pare its workforce as it spends hundreds of billions of dollars on artificial intelligence. Spokespersons for the Irish business would not comment on whether any staff based here will be able to take up the offer.

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