SOME young Irish people are emigrating “to enjoy themselves” according to Tánaiste Mary Coughlan.

Workers in the hospitality sector may soon see their wages fall.

NATIONAL Irish Bank (NIB) will close almost half of its branches and cut 150 jobs as part of a major restructuring programme.

SUBSTANTIAL numbers of jobs and critical exports will be lost due to the Government’s refusal to extend the export credit guarantee system to Irish-owned business.

FÁS has admitted that it is concerned about the validity of qualifications in up to 15 more courses run at its training centre in Dundalk, Co Louth.

UP to €4.7 million is to be invested in a new financial mathematics research centre by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the Government body responsible for funding core industrial and other research.

THE National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has asked the rights commissioner to investigate its claim that workers at Independent New Network (INN) were made redundant illegally.

New legislation to reform procedures at the state training agency FÁS is expected to be published by the Government today.

ALAN GLYNN’S new novel covers territory readers of Irish noir usually associate with Declan Hughes or Ken Bruen. And like Hughes, there are shady deals involving property, former IRA or INLA gunmen working as bouncers or fixers.

THE “fragmented” board of Fás is expected to resign next Thursday amid accusations of neglect in the oversight of excessive spending at the state training agency.

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan has been pressed to account for her support of the board of Fás when details of its wastefulness emerged — only to completely change her stance last month.

TO use a word she is particularly partial to, it would be “appropriate”, to say the least, if Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan took appropriate measures to convince the public that the profligacy over which the board of Fás presided would not be repeated.

SHAREHOLDERS of publicly listed companies will have greater powers to voice their opinions over the running of the firms in which they’ve invested when the Tánaiste signs into law new legislation today.

A €250m employment subsidy scheme was announced by the Government today in a bid to support up to 27,400 jobs.

THE head of Shannon Development – whose main tasks include jobs promotion in Shannon Free Zone and tourism in the mid-west – said yesterday that the organisation should not be on Bord Snip’s radar as it was self-financing.

STRATEGIC long-term thinking has to be applied to business strategy despite the pressure to find short-term solutions, a report has emphasised.

Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC) is to create 45 new high-calibre jobs in a research, development and innovation initiative, it was announced today.

THE Government has done nothing to clean up Fás according to the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which claimed its recommendations on improving accountability at the state training agency have been completely ignored.

THE controversial €10 airport tax should be scrapped as a matter of urgency following the announcement of the withdrawal of certain flights from Shannon Airport, the Dáil heard yesterday.

BUSINESS start-ups remained strong last year with an average of 2,800 recorded each month.

The first case of swine flu has been confirmed in this country in a person who recently returned from Mexico, health experts confirmed tonight.

A suspected case of swine flu in this country has not been identified as lab tests can not detect the deadly virus, health experts confirmed today.

Some 800 apprentices will be trained up as part of a wave of new ESB energy schemes that will create 3,700 jobs, the company said today.

A REPORT predicting almost 9,500 jobs could be lost in the mid-west region as a result of the closure of Dell’s manufacturing facility in Limerick was based on a “worse-case scenario”, according to the Government.

Fast food giant McDonald’s today opened a state of the art training facility to boost the skills of its workforce during the economic downturn.

THE announcement of 500 new jobs in Kildare by technology giant Hewlett-Packard was “a vote of confidence” in Ireland as an investment location, Taoiseach Brian Cowen insisted yesterday.

MANY Irish exporting companies are facing potential ruin as they find it harder to get credit insurance cover, according to the Irish Exporters’ Association (IEA).

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan was branded “a disgrace” by the opposition who accused her of being “unknowledgeable” and not knowing “very basic information” about the economY.

WORKERS of bankrupt employers are being forced to wait months for statutory entitlements such as wage arrears and holiday pay.

I’M fascinated by the response of Government ministers to the phenomenon of people travelling north to do their shopping.

THE Government has welcomed progress made from recent funding in the science and technology sectors.

DRINKS group Diageo is investing €24 million in the expansion of its research operations in Dublin, a move that will position its Irish operations as the global centre for all beer development within the group.

THE creation of about 100 jobs was announced in Waterford and Dublin yesterday.

Fifty new jobs are being created at an international software firm in Blanchardstown, it was announced today.

THREE successive ministers were negligent in their duty to oversee and approve expenses in the state training agency, Fás, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore claimed yesterday.

DEFYING the economic downturn, sandwich-making giant, Subway, has announced plans to create 1,300 jobs as part of a massive expansion here over the next two years.

BOSSES of German discount retailer Aldi aim to have more stores in Ireland than the big supermarkets within 10 years.

FÁS has defended its spending record after it emerged the agency held a two-day board meeting in a luxury €300 per night hotel last week.

A new report published today says we need to encourage more internationalisation of our services industry.

THE global Irish education company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), formerly Riverdeep, made history yesterday with its €350 million R&D project into e-learning to be located in Dublin. The initiative also promises 450 jobs.

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan has been accused of “pathetic self-congratulation” after taking credit for last month’s drop in the cost of living.

FEARS about the economy did not halt entrepreneurial activity in Ireland last year, with one in 12 Irish adults planning or starting a business.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan has today announced 50 new jobs for the Shannon Free Zone.

It has been announced that 580 people will lose their jobs at Hibernian Insurance over the next four years.