JOHN DALY: 2017 in review: Donald Trump and Brexit stoke fears as rents soar
The year began and ended with two words that would define much of the business and political headlines of the intervening 12 months — Brexit and Trump. Brexit was a huge issue that placed Ireland squarely in the firing between the UK and Europe.
The inauguration of US president Donald Trump put the focus on his campaign pledge to cut corporation tax and repatriate the offshore billions from American companies in “places like Ireland”. As the year gathered momentum, businesses large and small cast a weather eye to the 2017 horizon with an uneasy caution on what the coming months might bring. The Irish economy was predicted to outperform the EU for the fifth year in a row. Investec Ireland named its favoured stock for 2017, indicating CRH, Bank of Ireland, PaddyPower, Betfair, Ryanair, and Smurfit Kappa to be the best placed of the large listed companies. Among the SMEs, CPL, Dalata, Irish Continental Group, Grafton, and Greencore were its top picks.
Plans to unveil direct flights to the US from Cork came under fire as the biggest labour union in America called on president Barack Obama to stop plans by Norwegian Air International before his term in the White House came to an end. Labour leader Edward Wytkind called on the president to reverse the decision granting the airline a licence to begin transatlantic flights from Cork and Dublin, claiming that Norwegian Air engaged in unfair work practices and paid lower wages for its workers.
Many Irish businesses have been victims of increased cyber attacks over the past two years, according to EY’s Global Information Security Survey, with the main forms of attack aimed at stealing data and disrupting systems.
The worldwide survey found almost three out of four Irish organisations had been targeted. Poor employee awareness, inadequate knowledge of information security at board level and insufficient budgets were seen as the main contributory factors.
Hugh Callaghan, cybersecurity leader of EY Ireland, said: “Our research shows while Irish businesses are now more focused than ever on managing cyber risk, they are still playing catch-up with cybercriminals, who continue to find ways around organisations’ security controls and exploit their employees lack of awareness to steal money and data.”
The inauguration of US president Donald Trump put the focus on his campaign pledge to cut corporation tax and repatriate the offshore billions from American companies in “places like Ireland”. As the year gathered momentum, businesses large and small cast a weather eye to the 2017 horizon with an uneasy caution on what the coming months might bring. The Irish economy was predicted to outperform the EU for the fifth year in a row. Investec Ireland named its favoured stock for 2017, indicating CRH, Bank of Ireland, PaddyPower, Betfair, Ryanair, and Smurfit Kappa to be the best placed of the large listed companies. Among the SMEs, CPL, Dalata, Irish Continental Group, Grafton, and Greencore were its top picks.
Plans to unveil direct flights to the US from Cork came under fire as the biggest labour union in America called on president Barack Obama to stop plans by Norwegian Air International before his term in the White House came to an end. Labour leader Edward Wytkind called on the president to reverse the decision granting the airline a licence to begin transatlantic flights from Cork and Dublin, claiming that Norwegian Air engaged in unfair work practices and paid lower wages for its workers.
Many Irish businesses have been victims of increased cyber attacks over the past two years, according to EY’s Global Information Security Survey, with the main forms of attack aimed at stealing data and disrupting systems.
The worldwide survey found almost three out of four Irish organisations had been targeted. Poor employee awareness, inadequate knowledge of information security at board level and insufficient budgets were seen as the main contributory factors.
Hugh Callaghan, cybersecurity leader of EY Ireland, said: “Our research shows while Irish businesses are now more focused than ever on managing cyber risk, they are still playing catch-up with cybercriminals, who continue to find ways around organisations’ security controls and exploit their employees lack of awareness to steal money and data.”
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