US stocks fell tonight as New York State followed California in ordering non-key workers to stay at home and the UK caught up with the rest of Europe by ordering the closure of pubs and cafes to fight the deadly Covid-19 outbreak.

FBD chief executive Fiona Muldoon has defended the insurer’s profit levels, saying exceptional circumstances and not price rip-offs had led to it doubling profits to almost €113m last year.

Financial shares including those of Permanent TSB were boosted following upgrades of Irish banking by rating firms.

This week, Rituel is the Irish Examiner National Dairy Show 2019 Supreme Champion.

Olympic silver medal rowing champions Paul and Gary O’Donovan will be a big draw at the FBD Insurance stand all day Wednesday.

The furore around the Maria Bailey ‘swing gate’ case helped the public understand the costs bearing down on the insurance industry — but the Government will too quickly forget the lessons over insurance claims and high legal costs, according to FBD boss Fiona Muldoon.

Some people are better than others at getting their way. They know the buttons to press, where to expend charm, and when to wield a stick rather than offer a carrot.

Judges and the legal profession are to be asked to explain the high costs of compensation claims as TDs attempt to uncover reasons behind costly insurance premiums faced by consumers.

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty has accused insurers of exaggerating the number of fraudulent claims to justify the rising cost of premiums.

The Restaurant Association of Ireland’s FBD Insurance-sponsored Food Destinations 2019 competition is now accepting applications from any suburb, village, town or region that believes it has a unique food tourism offering and wants to shout it out to the world.

David ‘Stoney’ Burke turns, attention broken. He has a big hurling occasion to mind from between the posts. But the voice is familiar, all too familiar. He scans the bank of wheelchairs at the back of Croke Park’s Hill 16 goal.

Shares in FBD rose strongly despite the insurer telling investors the impact of Brexit remains "a major source of uncertainty" for the company.

Farmers must consider retiring earlier to extend the sector’s life expectancy, said Dr Sharon McGuinness, CEO, Health Service Authority.

FBD Insurance has accused the legal profession of being solely responsible for exorbitant premiums for businesses as it defended its 41% rise in profits last year.

The ongoing tracker mortgages scandal — at least 38,400 borrowers misled — is one example of the banks’ attitude to consumer rights and services.

Insurance group FBD views the prospect of Britain crashing out of the EU without a trade deal in place as the single biggest headwind facing its performance this year.

“The referee was saying, ‘you’re on three, you’re on three’ and then you’re thinking about it"

Geoff Percival AIB shares fell by over 2.6% after the lender announced chief executive Bernard Byrne is to leave the company to join stockbroking group Davy.

He's about to start graduate medicine in UCC, but his thoughts couldn’t be further from anatomy, physiology and biochemistry.

From Rathcoole, Co Cork, in 1968, to Screggan, Co Offaly, Ray Ryan has seen it all and enjoyed it

New technologies helped many farmers around the world to increase their output 12-fold from 1950 to 2000, and a new age of digital technology now heralds another agricultural boom.

Canadian financial services giant Fairfax looks on course to convert its bond option into shares in insurer FBD in the coming months and the possibility of some sort of other deal might yet be on the table, FBD chief executive Fiona Muldoon has said.

A Cork company director who hiked his insurance coverage before setting his own premises on fire and then trying to claim €200,000 insurance received a 10-year suspended jail term yesterday.

Shares in FBD, the stock market-listed insurer, will be closely watched this morning, after its board ordered an investigation into chief executive, Fiona Muldoon, following allegations made about her conduct by the firm’s chief human resources officer.