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Live News Live News: Housing Commission members welcome interest in report; Markets open with Iseq in the red Bite-sized servings of the latest in business, tech and current affairs Welcome to the Business Post’s Live News section.
We’re here all day to keep you up to date on developments in business, tech and current affairs. 09.08 - Housing Commission members welcome renewed interest in report Three of the Housing Commission’s members, including Cork developer Michael O’Flynn, have welcomed the government’s “renewed interest” in the report, which last May recommended emergency action was needed to perform “a radical strategic reset of housing policy”. Last year’s recommendations by the commission were “put on a shelf” by the government, members of the expert group added. Speaking at a Property Institute Ireland event on Tuesday, O’Flynn said the report “didn’t get the airing it deserved” after hundreds of meetings between the commission members.08.55 - Markets open with Iseq and FTSE in the red The Iseq All Share opened in the red Wednesday morning, down 0.64 per cent to 10,383.95. Shares in Ryanair led the losses, dropping 1.56 per cent to just over €20 per share. Pillar bank stocks AIB and Bank of Ireland were also down nearly 1 per cent in early trading.Glencore shares showed the biggest drop, down more than 3 per cent.08.43 - HSBC to delay some climate targets until 2050 HSBC, the largest bank in Europe, has delayed a deadline for some of its climate targets by two decades to 2050 after slow progress in its green push. In notes attached to its fourth quarter earnings, the bank said that slowing emissions in its supply chain is proving more difficult than anticipated.“Progress in reducing emissions in the scope 3 supply chain component is proving slower than we anticipated.”08.28 - Hungary warns OECD tax deal could cause US firms to flee Hungary is calling for a review of the global multinational tax deal in the wake of the US decision to pull out of it, saying it could lead to American firms fleeing the bloc. But the idea fell on deaf ears at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels on Tuesday, with no other EU country lending its support. “We have to avoid that the big multinational companies leave the EU and move to for example to the US or other countries,” Márton Nagy, Hungary’s economy minister, said. Ireland and the rest of the EU have pledged to stick to the deal, which sets a minimum corporation tax rate of 15 per cent for large multinationals based on their global income.08.12 - Irish tourism heavily reliant on American tourists European tourists have cut back on visits to Ireland, leaving the country heavily reliant on North American visitors, figures from the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation have shown. Accounting for 36 per cent of the €6 billion that foreign visitors spent in Ireland last year, US and Canadian tourists make up a quarter of the six million visitors that came here in 2024. The Irish Times reports that they spend an average of €1,526 each when holidaying here, almost 100 per cent more than their British counterparts, who spend about €509.08.01 - Glencore’s profit slides Glencore, the world’s biggest commodity trader, posted a slide in its full year profit as the firm was hit by slumping prices in cobalt and coal – some of its most important materials.However, it still announced it was returning $2.2 billion to shareholders, including a top up buyback of $1.1 billion.07.46 - Trump floats 25% tariffs on US pharma, auto, chip imports US President Donald Trump has said he would likely impose tariffs on pharmaceutical, automobile and semiconductor imports of around 25 per cent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2. Trump has previously announced 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium that are set to take effect in March. This is likely to have consequences for Ireland’s export-heavy pharmaceutical industry, which exported €99.9 billion worth of goods in 2024, 45 per cent of total Irish exports.07.30 - Ireland accepted ‘in principal’ to join CERN Ireland’s application to join the European Organisation for Nuclear Research has been accepted in principal, which paves the way for full membership next year. CERN, the largest particle physics laboratory in the world, is best known for the Large Hadron Collider. Membership in the organisation would allow Irish researchers to become staff members or land fellowships at the organisation.07.15 - Asian stock rally pauses Asian stocks pulled back after a five day push, with longer-term worries around the prospect of tariffs beginning from April.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell by 0.5 per cent, despite mainland Chinese investors pouring in HK$22.4 billion into Hong Kong stocks, the most since 2021. 7.00 - Good morning Good morning from the Business Post. Fionn Thompson here to keep you up to date on all the latest news as it happens.Laura Roddy has two follow ups to the ongoing data centre story - one with industry reaction and another piece of analysis on Ireland’s former position as the world capital of data centres.
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