Poor old Bernard McNamara got a going-over during the week. McNamara is a developer and former Fianna Fáil councillor. A hardened cynic might say that’s enough to merit a perpetual going-over. But in fairness to the man, he was well got in places high and low before his own fall from grace into the clutches of bankruptcy.

Pressure is mounting on Dublin City Council to foot the €4m bill for fire safety remedial works in the 299-apartment complex Longboat Quay.

Owners in a controversial apartment block were told last night they have to come up with €4m in less than a week or Dublin Fire Brigade will move to have the building evacuated.

Only a few years after the economic crisis, skills shortages are already driving up wages and harming Ireland’s economic recovery, an international recruitment firm has warned.

Nearly 60% of workers are considering changing jobs during 2015, a new survey has claimed, with more than three-quarters of firms looking to increase their staff numbers.

Three in five people plan to move jobs in the next year, as the economy improves.

The employment numbers reported last Thursday by the Central Statistics Office should be a boon to business confidence across all sectors of the economy; more people gainfully employed and fewer people out of work, more wages to be spent in the domestic economy and an upward tick on the tax returns for the exchequer.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny wants 75,000, or more than two in five long-term unemployed people back in work by 2015. That, starkly, is the ambition of the re-launched ‘Pathways to Work’ initiative announced on Friday.

The Mercer report on bankers’ pay has drawn an unfortunately all-too-predictable reaction from those who are often happier taking easy pot shots at bankers than engaging in meaningful debate. Yet, if we want a banking sector which is fit for purpose, we need to look beyond the easy sound bites to the context of what is actually being proposed.

The highly paid jobs are always changing, so be prepared, says Richard Eardley

It has emerged that more than half of Irish employers are unaware of the Government's Action Plan for Jobs.

A new study shows that 85% of employers increased their staff levels in the past 12 months, but nearly half of them know very little about the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs initiative.

Professionals across the country could soon see their salaries increase by up to 12% as the demand for niche skills rises.

THREE out of four professionals surveyed in Ireland said they would consider leaving in the next three years if the economy does not improve.

RECRUITMENT firm Hays said it is hiring 40 graduates to manage an Irish jobs growth surge in the largest recruitment campaign they have undertaken here.

SALARY levels for newly recruited professionals stabilised last year, with some niche positions experiencing increases of 20%, according to the Annual Salary Guide compiled by recruitment experts, Hays.

Three out of four employers plan to take on more staff next year.

THREE out of four employers plan to recruit next year but close to three quarters of those unemployed plan to look abroad for work.

TAX hikes, cuts in social welfare and selling-off the ESB and Board Gáis are favoured by finance directors in private companies as key measures to reduce the budget deficit.

A NUMBER of British-based banks are seeking to recruit as many as 800 Irish bankers offering annual pay packets of up to €88,000.

JOBS might be much harder to come by at the moment but jobseekers aren’t trying much harder to get them.