Over 6,000 Dunnes Stores workers will go on strike across the country today. The dispute is over what the union says is an "excessive" use of temporary contracts.
The work stoppages will take place at 107 shops nationwide after 67 percent of Mandate Trade Union's members at the company voted in favour of action.
Jobs Minister Richard Bruton is appealing for both sides to start talks:
Yesterday, the leaders of the main political parties publicly backed the Dunnes Stores workers in their dispute with the company.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny today said he supports “the Dunnes workers in having a right to clarity, insofar as their working lives and their working weeks are concerned.”
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The Greeks submitted a fresh list of economic reforms yesterday that are hoping to raise up to €6bn in additional revenues per year.
While the 26-page document is the most detailed yet from the Greeks, it appears to rely heavily on crack downs on fraud and tax evasion to raise a significant tranche of the new revenues.
Greece’s Interior Minister has warned that Greece will pay its public service pensions and salaries ahead of the €450m it’s scheduled to repay to the IMF on April 9th, unless it gets a new injection of funds from lenders.
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New car registrations 30 percent higher in the first quarter of the year. Registrations for the year to date come to just under 65,000 according to official figures released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry.
Sales for the month of March also up by more than 30 percent, so growth looks like it’s being sustained after the usual burst of activity at the start of the year
May be up to 120,000 new car sales here through 2015.
In a key indicator of economic growth – particularly in services – sales of light commercial vehicles were up 54 percent in the first quarter at just under 3,000 units.
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The Finance Minister, Michael Noonan will meet Central Bank Governor, Patrick Honohan today to try to push banks to cut their variable mortgage rates.
The talks come after Fianna Fáil claimed that borrowers are being charged far more than they should be.
He could face some resistance, a Central Bank official warned it would be "undesirable" for the institution to control rates.
With Ireland's top lenders now returning to profit, and with ECB interest rates at a record low, all sides of the Dáil now believe it's time for the banks to offer some relief to variable rate mortgage borrowers.
Enda Kenny says expects the banks to "do better" to give customers lower interest rates on their mortgages and his Finance Minister will meet the Central Bank's Governor on the issue.
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It going to be slightly easier for SMEs to get loans - small businesses looking to access loans of up to €25,000 from Microfinance Ireland will no longer require a prior bank refusal before being considered for the funds - according to changes announced yesterday.
This is designed to boost lending after a relatively disappointing uptake in the scheme to date.
Irish Independent reports that the giant US Private Equity firm, Blackstone, which has significant property assets in this country, may be contemplating making loans directly to larger SMEs in Ireland.
If so, the loans would be made available through Blackstone’s credit investment division, GSO Capital Partners.
