Banks are fielding some 7,000 calls each day from mortgage holders seeking payment breaks as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Research from PwC shows that 31% of food-related SMEs have stalled investment since the 2016 Brexit referendum

Confidence amongst Irish SMEs has severely deteriorated in recent months with concerns over Brexit, business costs and economic forecasts battering already fragile sentiment.

With little money available and the Brexit cloud continuing to swirl, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has announced a modest budget aiming to protect the economy. There were some positive announcements for business as well as some missed opportunities.

Community groups, tidy towns organisations and residents' associations are warning that they face a difficult future in the wake of soaring insurance costs.

RESEARCHERS in Ireland’s third-level colleges are increasingly engaging with companies seeking to develop new products or boost their efficiency.

The former Cork North-West Deputy Áine Collins is part of the company who "focus on supporting SME's who have the need of a Financial Director - but can't afford cost of hiring full-time in-house".

Confidence levels amongst Irish SMEs have slumped to a record low, although firms based in Munster are the most optimistic, according to a survey.

More than 7% - or nearly €900m - of SME loans currently on the books of the country's main banks have been deemed as being "highly vulnerable" by the Central Bank.

The Seanad has, on the back of recommendations from various business groups, called on the Government to introduce a junior ministerial role to represent SMEs, as well as a number of other support measures.

SMEs are asking for more loans, Bank of Ireland has said, boosting hopes that some of the worst effects of Brexit are beginning to lift.

A team at CIT is carrying out major research on “golden opportunities” for SMEs in the so-called silver economy, which is estimated to be worth €5.7 trillion in the next eight years.

Some €1.5bn worth of so-called “warehoused mortgages” — where some regular payments are agreed and the rest of the sum is parked to the end of the term — will become the next controversy involving Irish customers.

Enet has said it remains committed to the National Broadband Plan project despite one of the consortium’s major players dropping out of the process. Enet is the only bidder for the plan.

A Cork company is due to receive €2m in EU funding to promote their pregnancy screening test for pre-eclampsia.

According to a new study, over half of respondents (52%) say that their business will fail within five years if they do not introduce new workplace technology.

Business growth is rolling on and the exchequer is benefiting in no small way.

The EU is still scrutinising a competition ruling which may lead to it insisting the Government retrieve as much as €25m from potentially hundreds of business people who benefited from the country’s leading tax incentive business scheme which was designed to help SMEs.

Overall debt levels for SMEs have fallen but small hotels and restaurants remain the most vulnerable, according to a new Central Bank study.

Employers face a considerable more work under measures in the Finance Bill detailing the new monthly information they will be obliged to provide to Revenue for access by staff online.

Employers face a considerable more work under measures in the Finance Bill detailing the new monthly information they will be obliged to provide to Revenue for access by staff online, writes Eamon Quinn.

With a shortage of key skills threatening to derail plans to ramp up Ireland’s housing output, initiatives to tackle long-term unemployment are taking centre stage, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

There has been a big increase in loan refusals from banks to SMEs, the body representing the sector claims.

Lending to SMEs has fallen for the 23rd consecutive quarter and is down 7.5% for the year, new Central Bank figures show.

Jobs Minister Frances Fitzgerald’s failure to fill Brexit roles, with just one in four recruited, has been criticised as firms face an “existential crisis” with Britain’s EU exit on the horizon.

Small business lobby group Isme has slammed the level of bank lending to SMEs as “concerning” and “disappointing” after revealing the loan refusal rate has jumped from 23% to 28% of applications during the second quarter of the year.

Bank lending to SMEs fell by 8.9% on a year-on-year basis during the first three months of the year, marking the 22nd consecutive quarter of downward movement, new figures from the Central Bank have shown.

Strong leadership, huge determination, and persistence were some of the qualities cited by judges as Susie Horgan of Springboard PR and Marketing was crowned Cork Businesswoman of the Year.

Banker Nick Ashmore has praised the agriculture community for being “incredibly financially savvy and interest rate sensitive”.

Many moderate and reasonable people were no doubt surprised to read that an estate agent was fined on grounds of discrimination for having advised a single mum with a toddler, who was on a HAP housing scheme, that the owner of the property ‘would prefer to rent to a couple’. 

Mel Brooks sang a wonderful ditty in his 1983 comedy To Be or Not to Be. In full Hitler garb, he looks sincerely into the camera and says “All I want is peace. Peace. Peace!’ Then comes the punchline: ‘A little piece of Poland, a little piece of France, A little piece of Portugal and Austria perchance...”

A report by a leading academic has called for lending restrictions on credit unions to be eased in order to provide consumers with more mortgage options — for which there is “pent-up demand”, according to one of the sector’s biggest bodies.

Almost half of small and medium-sized firms expect their profits to fall as a result of Brexit, according to a survey of employers in the sector.

Since the opening of Digital Equipment Corporation in Galway in 1971 its legacy — now in the guise of Hewlett Packard Enterprise — is still as strong as ever, writes Dr Chris Coughlan.

There are concerns that changes to the help-to-buy scheme will not stop house prices rising.