More than 16,000 laid-off workers have applied for the Government’s emergency unemployment payment since Monday — with a huge rise in numbers expected in the coming days.

European stock markets fell again amid investor scepticism that the spending pledges by governments around the world will shield the eurozone and the US from economic damage carried by Covid-19.

Many retailers in Ireland are facing significant challenges in sustaining their businesses despite the economic recovery, Retail Excellence has said in its election manifesto.

Online outlets cashed in, supermarkets did well in the good weather, stores selling electronics and TVs did less well, while jewellery and lingerie had a slack early summer, according to a sector-by-sector breakdown of how retailers have fared in recent months.

Chambers Ireland is welcoming "the progress being made to ensure a disorderly withdrawal from the EU by the UK does not occur."

Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be a “double-edged sword” for Irish retailers with margin pressures incurred from major discounting offsetting the spike in business, a retail expert has said.

First there were the American railroad tycoons. Then came Big Oil, followed by Big Auto, Big Tobacco and Big Pharma.

ONE of the least effective exercises we sometimes commit to is trying, Canute-like, to hold back the tide of evolution, though it is always valid, and wise, to wonder if evolution is actually progress.

There has been a near 50% increase in the space of 12 months in the number of people using their mobile phones to browse for purchases online.

Retailers have reported a small increase in trading this Christmas as far more people shop online.

An online shopping delivery service has had to bring in buses to deal with the “large increase” in people buying on the web.

Black Friday is the new December 8, according to An Garda Síochána, with more than 50% of people expected to shop online this Christmas.

There are 40,000 vacant residential units in Dublin city centre, according to a town planning expert.

THE fraught interface between the market and public need is seen in stark terms in our dysfunctional housing market. Business, naturally, puts the necessity of profit before social projects. 

An organisation representing retailers wants gardaí to charge parents with being accessories to crime if it is believed that they are using their children to shoplift.

Organised crime gangs are flying into Ireland in order to carry out weekend raids on stores selling smartphones, a retail body has said.

Shops are reporting a drop in sales in the lead up to Christmas compared to last year.

Tomorrow, bargain hunters will be in seventh heaven with some stores opening at 6am for a pre-Christmas shopping phenomenon.

The Consumers’ Association of Ireland has accused big British retailers and suppliers of short-changing householders in the Republic for failing to pass on the enormous benefits of the strong euro against sterling.

New figures have brought fresh evidence of the pressures facing Ireland's retailers.

A number of international retail chains will leave the Irish market next year, according to Retail Excellence Ireland.