This week September 2011
9/11’s delivers major blow to airlines, tourism and the insurance industry; FÁS boss takes Bertie to court over alleged breach of contract; newspaper industry in peril; and what a nice man that Ian Paisley is.
Compiled by Rónán Duffy
10 years ago
The possibility of placing Aer Lingus in examinership was considered in detail at senior ministerial and departmental levels in recent days, Business & Finance has learned. 
It is also understood that Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy was given a detailed briefing on the merits of such a move by representatives of professional firms, who recommended examinership to him as the best option for the airline.
Esat Telecom is seeking voluntary redundancies at its Esat Business division and has clamped a “hiring freeze” on the whole organisation.
The company is making the call due to tight market conditions and because of Eircom’s failure to facilitate a rapid unbundling of its digital subscriber loop (DSL) high-speed internet service to carriers on a wholesale basis at lower than current prices.
The attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the plane crash in Pennsylvania that took place on 11th September fundamentally changed the way that we viewed the world.
The economic impact on equity markets and the airline and tourism industries has already been well documented. But there is also a very significant impact on the insurance industry.
20 years ago
With an estimated overrun of between £100m to £150m on the Exchequer Borrowing Requirement for this year, even after the introduction of the £100m spending cuts in July, Finance Minister Albert Reynolds must get a firm grip on the public finances to avoid them going out of control. The government had originally set a target for the EBR of £460m, approximately 1.9% of GDP.
Brendan Leahy, the former director general of FAS, is taking a High Court action against Minister for Labour Bertie Ahern and FAS and is claiming substantial damages. In a recent submission to the High Court, Leahy accuses FAS of deceit, misrepresentation and mis-statement. He accuses Ahern of breach of contract. Both FAS and Ahern deny these claims and will vigorously defend the action.
Officials from the Kerry Group travelled to the UK last week to inspect a quantity of beef supplied by their subsidiary South West Meats to the UK Intervention Board. The Intervention Board has claimed that up to 50 tonnes of South West beef was substandard and produced what they claimed was a sample suspect product.
The Irish National Petroleum Corporation, the state-owned company, has recorded profits of £679,000 for 1990, up 80% on the previous year.
30 years ago
The Irish newspaper industry has been taking a hammering during the worst recession in recent memory. More specifically, the Dublin newspaper industry is facing a real crisis as a result of falling revenue and ever increasing costs.
We have uncovered figures which the Dublin Newspapers Management Committee presented to the print unions earlier this summer. These show that advertising revenue between the Independent Group, the Irish Press Ltd and the Irish Times has declined “by no less than £4,500,00” in a twelve month period.
Silvermines, whose shares are among the most sought-after on the market, will produce record pre-tax profits when it sends its 1981 interim results to the Stock Exchange. The record results are assured, as they will include the £2.1m extraordinary gain realised from the sale of Aran Energy.
The $7m Bloomingdale’s promotion, Ireland – That Special Place, marks the start of an extensive two-year programme by Coras Trachtala to double the number of Irish exporters to the US.
The five-week promotion, which got underway in Bloomingdale’s 16 stores last week, introduced 60 new Irish exporters to the market. CTT wants more to join them.
40 years ago
The Private U.K. firm which is controlled by members of the Smurfit family has finally been bought out by the Jefferson Smurfit Group.
After protracted negotiations, some of the loose ends still have to be tied up, but shareholders can expect a detailed statement in the near future.
Eamon Keane, Bord Failte’s recently crowned head of marketing, made the point at the latest luncheon of the Dublin Junior Chamber of Commerce recently that Europe was the market that was showing the most buoyancy. It also had potential for growth – in percentage terms at any rate.
The emerging importance of the Continent as a tourism revenue source will shortly be reflected in a stepped up joint campaign by Bord Failte and B + I Line.
One admires Ian Paisley as one would admire the demagogue. His rabble-rousing capacity, his honesty, his sense of timing, his political consistency, when compared with the shiftiness of both his Right-wing compatriots and the various other shades of Unionism. Even such things as his physical appearance and verbal and vocal attributes, all add up in a relatively simple arithmetical way. He is not a formula politician but a man of the streets.
