A Co Meath man who left school at 17 and started his first business at his kitchen table has launched a €1 million innovation fund to invest in the next generation of home-grown entrepreneurs.

A former aide to US president John F Kennedy with strong links to West Cork has wound up his 30-year philanthropic fund with a record €100,000 donation to a domestic violence support group.

The value of UK funds’ assets under management has dropped by more than $40bn (€36bn) in the three weeks since Britain’s vote to leave the EU, largely due to the plunge in the pound, fund flows data company EPFR said yesterday.

Local authorities are to be given a €200m fund in the latest effort to kickstart the construction industry.

The brakes could be put on potential pay rises for private sector workers if they are automatically signed up to a personal pension savings fund.

Trustev founder Pat Phelan and distiller Illann Power have launched a new €25m investment fund to help Irish companies scale globally.

The insurance fund into which policyholders have contributed hundreds of millions of euro made payments totalling €1.4bn to cover failed insurers over the last five years.

Technology fund Atlantic Bridge is targeting investments in up to 20 companies across Europe after the first close of its new €140m fund.

A new eurozone fund for troubled banks may face a one-month delay and not go live in January, a prospect that would be a major embarrassment for a critical element of banking union, its chair said in Dublin yesterday.

Friends and family of a Limerick man killed in the US have launched an appeal for financial help, as they attempt to bring his children home.

Nearly €400,000 has been donated to a fund providing assistance to families of students killed or injured in the Berkeley tragedy.

A fundraising page set up to help the family of Karen Buckley has raised over £50,000 (€69,377) in just 24 hours.