The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has shelled out over €2.3m in consultancy fees in the last 12 months.

An interim examiner has been appointed by the High Court to Mothercare Ireland, which employs 276 people in 18 stores across the State.

Property investment fund Green Reit is eyeing the soon-to-be gem of the Cork office market having entered exclusive negotiations to acquire One Albert Quay.

The boutique Dawson hotel in Dublin city centre is being put up for sale with a €15m guide price and is likely to attract considerable attention given its prominent location.

One of the country’s unemployment blackspots is to have its own jobs tsar after the Government’s decision to appoint a regional manager to the area.

Irish family businesses are among the least prepared to take advantage of commercial opportunities presented by an increasingly digitalised business environment.

That more than half of Cork city centre’s biggest ever office development — the hugely impressive €50m One Albert Quay project — has been reserved just a month after ground was broken, and 16 months before the project is scheduled for completion, suggests a vote of confidence in the region that will generate real momentum in the economic recovery.

Two Co Clare tourism ventures come to market this week, one a 22-bed hotel in Liscannor, the other a walking lodge in Ballyvaughan, the Burren — due for auction.

IF Irish Water is to be more than a balance sheet exercise to lower the national debt, the organisation needs to be freed of the legacy inefficiencies inherited from local authorities.

Deeply unpopular plans to slash €113m from the medical cards system have been cut to just €25m after an intense two-month internal government battle.

Plans for massive cuts to the medical card scheme have descended into farce after the health minister cast doubt over the target figure outlined in the budget and the HSE said it will have to be independently verified.

The former Bord Gáis chief John Mullins has been appointed the chairman of the Port of Cork.

The former group chief executive of Bord Gáis is hotly tipped to fill the role of chairman of the Port of Cork.

A survey at a business breakfast yesterday found that 73% of business leaders felt the budget would be either positive or have no negative impact on their business.

A wealthy Thai businessman with an impressive portfolio of Asian golf properties is one of the favourites to become the new owner of the prestigious Fota Island Resort in Cork, with a sale expected to go through this month.

The Irish entertainment and media market is set to grow by 2.7% and reach more than €4.37bn in value, according to PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PwC) latest global entertainment and media outlook.

A total of €2,630 new mortgages were issued between January and March, according to new figures from PriceWaterhouseCooper.

One of the most bitter, personalised and expensive corporate fiascoes in Irish sport will be picked apart in an Oireachtas hearing today.

Activity in the mortgage market remained weak between July and September, new figures indicate.

Ireland has one of the lowest rates of workplace absenteeism in western Europe, according to a new survey by PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC).

MUNSTER people are the least financially secure in Ireland while those in Dublin are the most.

A MASSIVE 85% of Irish chief executives surveyed believe finance is less easily available now compared to a year ago, while a third expect to cut jobs this year.

ALMOST two-thirds of employers are concerned that their staff may be unable to afford to retire when the time comes.

A new report says it is possible that Europe could create a 100% renewable electricity supply in the next 40 years, by 2050.

GOLF directors at Cork’s Fota Island Resort insist it is business as usual despite the appointment of a receiver at the prestigious facility last week.

The number of mortgages issued last year is down a staggering 47% on 2008.

THEORY is never as much fun as practice which is why Colm McCarthy has a head start on most academics when he takes the podium in lecture halls.

FINE GAEL last night said it was wrong that €9.5m was paid to the same Anglo Irish directors who had brought the bank to its knees.

News that Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is likely to publish the section of the PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) audit relating to Anglo Irish Bank is to be warmly welcomed.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan’s defence against negligence has been undermined by his own chief whip who claimed he would have read the full report on Anglo Irish Bank.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has expressed complete confidence in his Finance Minister Brian Lenihan despite the failure to detect a e7 billion window dressing of Anglo Irish Bank’s accounts.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan may opt this afternoon for an income levy in his hairshirt Budget instead of upping the 41% top tax rate, according to a leading economic expert.

FOUR of the five members of the National Irish Safety Organisation’s (NISO) management committee have resigned in a row over attempts to reduce the size of the board.

Plans for a £240m (€313m) multi-sports stadium project at the site of the former Maze prison is unlikely to get government go ahead, it emerged today.

The value of new mortgages taken out last was down 15% compared to 2006, according to new figures out today.

Lá Nua and Foras na Gaeilge yesterday announced their partnership with PricewaterhouseCooper for this year’s Top 50 Businesses as Gaeilge Awards.

PROPERTY company Ardawn Developments expects to have raised €75 million for its second property development fund by the end of the week.

A CONCEPT where employees from Irish businesses volunteer to help arts organisations solve their business problems, was relaunched in Dublin yesterday.

VENTURE Capital investment in Irish firms fell by €369 million last year, a 69% drop to €166m, figures released by PricewaterhouseCooper reveal.

Britain's new Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson will today make his first visit to the West Midlands since his appointment on a fact finding mission in the aftermath of the MG Rover crisis.

Investment by venture capitalists in Ireland increased by €406m last year, according to PricewaterhouseCooper's sixth annual report on technology investments in Europe.

The Government would appear to have merely postponed an industrial relations doomsday for a week, if the Cabinet decides not abandon Minister for Transport Seamus Brennan’s mission to break up Aer Rianta.

IRISH Financial Service Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) chief executive Liam O’Reilly is facing legal action from disgruntled clients of failed stockbroking firm W&R Morrogh unless he orders the firm’s receiver to return €10m in shares to the investors.

THE vast majority of Irish family-owned firms believe passing on the enterprise to the next generation poses the single biggest threat to their businesses, yet only half of these companies have formal succession plans in place.