OVER the past few weeks, considerable media coverage has been provided to a small number of “high profile” business people who are calling for a no vote on the Lisbon Treaty.

SOME leading organisations could urge a “No” vote on the Lisbon Treaty for reasons unrelated to the document, an Oireachtas committee has indicated.

AT A cost of hundreds of thousands of euro to the State, the Irish Hotels Federation and the Labour Court settled their High Court dispute over wage rates for hotel workers on a technicality yesterday — and agreed to revert to an agreement hammered out several weeks before the court even sat.

IT HAS been long recognised that manufacturing industries face a very challenging future in this part of the world.

CONSUMERS have seen the price of basic groceries rise by three-quarters within four years, Fine Gael claimed yesterday.

IRELAND’S overdependence on dwindling supplies of oil poses a significant burden to the economy and a threat to future energy security, a leading international report published yesterday revealed.

THE shortage of foreign language training is the biggest failing of the country’s primary school system, a major public opinion survey has found.

TRALEE and Killarney, with a combined population of more than 50,000, should be promoted jointly for investment, a business leader urged yesterday.

IT’S easier for a man in my position to pick up the phone to his customer and organise a golfing day or whatever. There is an advantage there.’

PAYING lip service, at the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis, to the jobs crisis in the manufacturing industry in Kerry was not enough, a trade union official warned yesterday.

Donal Hickey

Company bosses are being urged to dump recycling policies in favour of waste prevention plans, it emerged today.

Any of the EU countries could mimic Ireland’s economic boom if businesses were allowed to exploit their full potential in an open market, it was claimed today.

THE Government is set to approve a road and rail transport package of up to €20 billion next month, it emerged yesterday.

The National Treasury Management Agency, established by the Government three years ago to cope with the country’s national debt, has taken over responsibility for dealing with personal injury and other claims against the state.

THE main bosses’ organisation warned last night of a looming crisis for the information technology industry following a big fall-off in students opting for computer-related courses at university.

Ireland’s main bosses’ organisation today warned against complacency in the face of the lowest inflation rate since the start of the year.

Workers at a bottle factory warned today they were prepared for a ‘‘long haul’’ of strike action in a row over severance pay.

Allied Irish Bank, Ireland’s biggest banking group, is to pay its employees special bonuses and extra overtime for dealing with the changeover to the euro on January 1.

The organisation representing the country’s bosses issued a defiant recovery message last night in the face of official figures highlighting the scale of the economic slowdown this year.

Irish companies were tonight preparing for a bout of mystery illnesses and absenteeism to hit their workforces tomorrow afternoon.

Representatives from more than 50 Irish companies met in Dublin today to develop ways of striking racism out of the workplace.

Ireland's telecoms infrastructure is proving inadequate for nearly one-third of businesses, according to the country’s Telecommunications Users Group.