A €40m Fine, A €51m Castle & O'Leary giving out

09 October 2026

Good morning. Ireland is closing Budget week with a €40m EU fine for Kingspan, warnings of higher airfares from Ryanair and some impressive numbers from the businesses making money here, including Live Nation and Tesco. The ECB is staying relatively calm about the energy shock, although businesses facing rising bills may be less relaxed. We've also got a Property & Energy Spotlight, the week's biggest developments and a bit of a joke for personal finance. Let's get into it.

1. Kingspan Hit With €40m EU Fine. The European Commission has fined Irish insulation giant Kingspan €40m for providing incorrect and misleading information during its investigation into the company's ultimately abandoned acquisition of Slovenian manufacturer Trimo. The Commission identified four breaches of EU merger rules, including misrepresenting documents and information about the company's strategy. Kingspan says it will appeal the decision in full. An abandoned acquisition has now produced a rather expensive regulatory bill.

2. Ryanair Warns Of Higher Airfares. Michael O'Leary says airlines face enormous fuel-cost challenges in 2027, with refined jet fuel now around 50% more expensive than Brent crude, compared with a historical premium of 10–15%. Refinery disruption and reduced capacity are keeping costs elevated, and O'Leary expects airlines to pass those increases on through fares. Between that and EasyJet cancelling 700,000 winter seats, airlines are clearly going for profit over supply in the coming months. Meanwhile, EY warns that rising fuel, energy and transport expenses are already putting Irish businesses under greater pressure ahead of Christmas.

3. Irish Business Delivers Cash, Customers And Contracts. Live Nation's Irish holding company paid a €76m dividend to its UK parent, following an €82m payment from its 3Arena operating subsidiary. Live Nation also owns MCD, Ireland's largest concert and event promoter, giving it considerable influence over the country's live-entertainment industry. Elsewhere, Irish data centre owner/operator, Echelon, secured electricity capacity contracts worth up to €104m for its Arklow development, while Dublin AI startup TensorX reached €5m in revenue and more than 4,000 paying customers.

4. Tesco Gains Ground & Irish Banks Attract Optimism. Tesco Ireland increased first-half sales by 4.1%, taking its grocery market share to 24.1%, within touching distance of a quarter of the market. Strong food sales helped, while Tesco shares closed 5% higher following the wider group's results, showing the strength of the company’s Irish operations. Meanwhile, Goodbody raised its price targets for AIB to €12.68 and Bank of Ireland to €22.05, expecting resilient earnings and strong capital generation ahead of their upcoming trading updates.

5. ECB Sees Room For A Measured Response. Irish economist Philip Lane, the ECB's chief economist, says the Middle East energy shock remains manageable enough for a measured monetary-policy response. Although underlying inflation is expected to rise next year, he says there is little evidence yet of the kind of wider economic spillover that would demand a more aggressive reaction. With EY warning that Irish businesses already face rising operating costs, the distinction between an energy-price shock and persistent broader inflation matters to the ECB. For businesses watching their cash flow, the immediate cost is much the same.

Oil surged to $105 a barrel on Thursday following fresh tanker attacks in the Gulf and reports that Washington is considering renewed military operations against Iran, putting further pressure on global energy and transport costs. Europe's trade commissioner is in China for last-ditch negotiations over electric-vehicle tariffs, with Beijing offering possible investment and import concessions. Meanwhile, TSMC recorded a 51% jump in quarterly revenue to €41.6bn, suggesting the AI chip boom still has plenty of customers. But OpenAI's reported annualised revenue is approaching $50bn, rather than the previously reported $70bn, following confusion over investor calculations. AI demand may be booming, but even its biggest players need their numbers checked – that’s not ideal considering the colossal IPOs their planning.

Property & Energy

Budget 2027 handed property a penalty for idle buildings and energy users a cheaper gas bill, while office space tightens where occupiers want it.

A 7% annual tax on the market value of derelict properties will replace the Derelict Sites Levy, with legislation due in the Finance Bill and a preliminary national register due on 1 September 2027. It arrives as Dublin City Development Company’s Robert Watt said last Thursday that the O’Connell Street taskforce wants vacant buildings turned into homes, but planning, fire safety, conservation and viability stand in the way.

On energy, the carbon tax on natural gas and kerosene falls from €63.50 to €48.50 per tonne of CO2 until 2030, rather than rising to €78.50 by May 2027. The tax-free allowance for income from selling micro-generated electricity back to the grid rises by €400 to €600, while Bord Gáis Energy and Finance Ireland now offer 0% rooftop-solar finance on €4,000 to €10,500, with a €99 deposit.

Knight Frank, in analysis published last week, put Dublin 2 office vacancy near 6%, against a citywide 13% at the end of the second quarter, with no speculative scheme under construction.

Vincent Boland argues in the Business Post that opposition to data centres is growing, citing Kildare protests over a proposed Microsoft facility.

Watch the BidX1 online auction on 22 October, where the former Buck Whaley’s nightclub at 67 Lower Leeson Street guides €1.6m, against a €3.3m guide in 2024 that also included a mews.

In Monday’s Tá, the Sector Spotlight will be Tech & AI.

Friday – The Week in Summary…

Budget 2027 dominated the week, with €8bn committed to MetroLink through 2030, €150m for workforce training, billions for housing and new tax incentives for investors. The minimum wage increase to €14.94 also left businesses facing higher employment costs.

Beyond the Budget, Brown Thomas Arnotts reported €23.5m in profit, Joe Duffy Group generated €573m in turnover, and Johnstown Collection's €21m director loan showed the scale of private funding behind some Irish businesses.

There were tougher developments too. HubSpot announced global job cuts, Temu's Irish subsidiary set aside €100m for legal matters, and Kingspan received a €40m EU fine. The Government spent the week setting out its plans for the economy, while companies provided a fairly revealing account of what running a business in it actually involves.

Despite the raving he’s done about his new Investment Account, Finance Minister Simon Harris says, “I suppose I’ll open an account myself,” when asked about his new Irish Investment Account, having admitted to Eoin McGee on his podcast in July that he had never invested before. Jack Chambers was rather more enthusiastic, thankfully. Meanwhile, the price of Mark Zuckerberg’s Waterford castle has finally emerged at €51.17m, so the €150,000 he and his wife are donating to three local GAA clubs is looking like spare change now. The Ellison family, meanwhile, were good enough to put $17bn of daddy’s own money into the $110bn Warner Bros takeover. And with signs of 2008 appearing in rather too many places lately, Goldman Sachs preparing over $500m in executive bonuses is doing absolutely nothing to discourage the comparisons.

The Read - Business Post - ‘If there’s a dawn raid on your office, ring your lawyer... but I would say that’ (Paid Subscription Required)

Megan Hooper took a non-traditional route to head McCann FitzGerald’s dispute resolution and litigation team. The Queenslander never felt destined for law, despite family hopes she would take over the family firm, and days after qualifying moved to Meath. She joined McCann FitzGerald as a legal executive, requalified in Ireland and spent seven years in medical negligence until the crash hit that work. Litigation put her in the Anglo Irish Bank investigations, and she is on the IBRC liquidators’ team in the case against Michael Fingleton, with judgment awaited. She closes on what happens when a regulator arrives for a dawn raid. Link: ‘If there’s a dawn raid on your office, ring your lawyer... but I would say that’

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