French lorry drivers have organised blockades on roads and near fuel depots across the country in protest at President Emmanuel Macron's changes to labour laws.

French police are preparing as unions and other goups hold nationwide protests against changes to labour laws they fear damage job security.

Measures need to be taken in order to make small and medium enterprises ’Brexit-proof’ or it “could derail Ireland’s economy”, a body representing Irish and British business has said.

The Small Firms Association (SFA) has urged the Government to be more “ambitious” in its spending approach, in the October budget, by increasing capital expenditure to 4% of GDP.

The budget will be a test of Finance Minister Pascal Donohoe, who now has complete control as a result of the two portfolios of finance and public expenditure being brought under his remit.

France's Eiffel Tower has reopened to the public after a closure of five consecutive days due to a workers' strike.

Two tax rates — of 20% and 25% — will be applied on so-called vulture funds and other overseas investors which bought distressed property and loans after the financial collapse.

Even in a budget with very little room for manoeuvre, this Government has missed an opportunity to address the many issues facing entrepreneurs, which would assist them in providing additional employment and driving prosperity all parts of the country.

The Small Firms Association (SFA) has urged the Government to bring capital gains tax (CGT) back down to 20%.

AMIDST the layers of uncertainty surrounding Brexit, one thing is for sure: Ireland’s business environment must be fit for purpose and as attractive as possible to potential investors and existing businesses, both large and small, writes Linda Barry.

A 20-year-old Cork man who has cerebral palsy yesterday settled for €1.1m in a High Court action over his care at the time before his birth at Erinville Hospital, Cork.

Site clearance works could start within weeks on a Camden Quay office building of 72,000 sq ft, and which could have a transformative impact on an old Cork city centre area less than 100m from St Patrick Street.

A Supreme Court decision has cleared the way for the Revenue Commissioners to continue its pursuit of a number of wealthy taxpayers whom it believes engaged in elaborate “straddle” transactions for tax avoidance purposes.

France is readying itself for reduced train services as rail workers prepared to begin striking late yesterday even as a separate protest movement by refinery operators shows signs of easing.

Budget 2016 has been labelled a missed opportunity for the Government to support entrepreneurs despite general approval for specific changes on capital gains tax (CGT).

It is no secret that Finance Minister Noonan has money to spend in Budget 2016. 

The Irish Exporters’ Association has called for restraint in public sector pay rises and accused the Government of lacking the courage to tackle the issue in the proper manner.

The Eiffel Tower closed to the public for most of the day yesterday as staff protested over a rise in aggressive pickpockets around the Paris landmark.

Homeowners hoping to earn some extra cash by offering an Airbnb service have been told to hold onto receipts and claim back expense entitlements.

The sale has closed on the former Lovetts’ restaurant in Cork’s suburbs, for 20% over its guide. 

AUCTIONS step back into the sales fray in early 2015, with Allsops set to auction more than 220 lots later this month, while Iam-Sold is now stepping up to at least 14 auction events this coming year, moving now to Dublin after establishing in Galway and Cork/Munster in 2013/14.

Whether the babies deprived of oxygen during delivery at Portiuncula Hospital will suffer long-term effects is unclear — but despite the uncertainty around the five cases, the health minister has reassured women that maternity services are safe.

Irish hotels are back in business - they’ve sold like hot-cakes during 2014, with over 50 finding new owners, with €450m changing hands in the process.

There is little doubt that the country market is now at a threshold, with 2015 poised to be possibly the most definitive year since 2008 crash.

A second multi-million euro Waterford sale — the AIB bank branch in the heart of the city for close to €2.25 million to a private investor - is imminent. It comes on the back of the just-concluded sale of the Fitzwilton Hotel, to an Austria-based investor, for €3.2m.

Property prices are still going up, especially in Dublin, according to the Residential Property Price Index.

An un-named Chinese investor has stitched up a deal on Fitzgerald House, an 11,600 sq ft property facing Cork city’s English Market and adjacent to the dramatically just-painted up Singers Corner, where - coincidentally - a commissioned mural by artist Johnny Bugler depicts a floral Chinese pattern, as seen on old Singer sewing machines.

There’s several auction deadlines looming in the coming weeks, in the run-up to the expiry of the CGT exemption reliefs at year’s end.

West Cork’s Westlodge Hotel in Bantry is now facing a sale by tender, by December 5, to effect a sale by the year-end CGT expiry deadline.

Two apartment complex offers in Cork city, and both strongly let, are being offered to investors at sums of €5.5m and €6m-plus apiece.

A retail unit acquired in 1999 as the second ever Aldi Irish store is up for sale by tender as an investment: it’s the anchor tenant in the Westside Retail Park, Ballincollig in Cork, on a lease set to run until 2024.

AS Nama this week brings 588 apartments for sale for €116 million in Dublin, aimed at REITS and overseas investment groups, offers on a smaller scale of apartment blocks maybe of more interest to private buyers conscious of the end of year expiry date of the CGT exemption for investments held for seven years.