Back to work. Even the tooth fairy's fundraising.

27 October 2026

Good morning. The bank holiday is over, the Christmas countdown is on, and Irish business is straight back into pay disputes, housing decisions, rising mortgage rates and fresh takeover activity. Abroad, the tech giants are spending billions while cutting costs, and Europe's carmakers are feeling the squeeze. Let's get into it.

Tuesday – The Bank Holiday Weekend Round Up

The long weekend brought some big developments. Anthropic publicly filed for its Nasdaq IPO, revealing $16.3bn in half-year revenue alongside an extraordinary $80.7bn net loss, largely reflecting non-cash adjustments. Back home, Storm Boelo left 41,000 premises without power on Sunday, while fresh reporting put the National Maternity Hospital's potential final cost at €2.136bn. Brazil's election result also rattled markets, with investors bracing for heavy losses.

Thankfully, Cork and Dublin had considerably more success weathering the storm. More than 19,000 runners took to Dublin's streets for the Marathon, raising over €5m for charity and giving thousands of people a finish line they'll remember for years. Down in Cork, the Guinness Jazz Festival brought music, packed streets and a fantastic atmosphere despite the weather. Ireland certainly made the most of the bank holiday, even if the weather had other plans.

1. Public Pay Talks Face Collapse Warning. Fórsa chief Kevin Callinan has warned that negotiations could conclude this week without agreement, with unions seeking progress on pay and outstanding commitments. A Business Post/Red C poll found 57% support further strike action if a satisfactory deal cannot be reached. Following the 14 October stoppage involving roughly 300,000 workers, the Government and unions face a difficult choice of reaching a settlement or risking another disruption to public services.

2. Housing Policy Pulls In Different Directions. Simon Harris is bringing proposals to Cabinet tomorrow allowing smaller builders to access HBFI loans for zoned land before planning permission, reducing the upfront capital needed to develop homes. Separately, approved housing bodies have reportedly been told to hold annual delivery at 5,000 homes from next year. Cairn also wants to convert its 362-apartment Stillorgan development from build-to-rent to conventional apartments, subject to planning approval. Government is seeking more private construction while reportedly limiting another supply channel.

3. Irish Banks Reprice Mortgages As Competition Intensifies. PTSB has increased fixed mortgage rates by a weighted average of 0.3 percentage points following two ECB hikes, while AIB recently cut selected rates and Bank of Ireland raised deposit returns. Pillar banks challenger Bankinter reported Irish pre-tax profits up 21% to €41m, saying its new deposit business remains small but will eventually help fund lending growth. Meanwhile, today's High Court hearing on PTSB's proposed €1.62bn Bawag sale could determine the future of one of Ireland's main lenders.

4. Irish Firms Draw Buyers As Engineering Revenues Climb. Dublin's Jones Engineering forecasts record 2026 turnover above €1.9bn, driven by data-centre demand. German-listed Bechtle has acquired Dublin IT supplier ITQuotes, its first Irish acquisition, while Norwegian leisure group Activeon plans a nearly €25m purchase of Funky Monkeys, the operator of indoor play centres and Airtastic venues. Insurance broker Lockton is also nearing a sale of its Irish private-client business, with €400m to €500m under advice. Foreign buyers are targeting established Irish businesses across very different sectors.

5. Energy Bills And Data Centres Face Greater Scrutiny. ESB Networks is developing a system to target future electricity credits towards specific households, rather than repeating universal supports. Meanwhile, 61% of respondents to a Business Post/Red C poll support limits on individual technology companies' electricity consumption. Institutional investors, including Legal & General and Columbia Threadneedle, are also warning about potential oversupply and stranded assets in rural data centres. Government faces household affordability concerns while investors question where further infrastructure makes commercial sense.

The EU is considering new safeguards to reduce Chinese imports of chemicals, machinery and furniture, potentially raising trade tensions. Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 employees as it manages the cost of its enormous AI investment programme. Euro-area business activity has slowed, with weakness in France weighing on the wider economy. Volvo Cars announced 2,500 additional job cuts after reporting a 3.7bn Swedish crown quarterly operating loss, sending shares down 24% on Friday. Meanwhile, Western carmakers and luxury brands are struggling with weaker Chinese consumer demand and growing domestic competition, with luxury groups reportedly losing €250bn in market value. European industry is being squeezed by slowing demand, changing trade rules and increasingly formidable Chinese rivals.

Legal & Regulatory

Legal and regulatory pressure is now as much about how disputes are framed as how they are decided.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan told the Oireachtas justice committee that only rape trials were deliberately affected in the Central Criminal Court by Monday’s solicitor withdrawal, with six adjourned. Solicitors, including Powderly’s Eoghan O’Sullivan, call that false and describe a full withdrawal. The minister may tweak the flat-fee legal aid model but will not reverse it.

The Central Bank fined Coinbase Ireland €3.25m, after a 30% settlement discount, over safeguarding and outsourcing failings between November 2020 and August 2025. Safeguarding means keeping customer money separate and fully funded. The regulator said the account ran underfunded and that oversight relied too heavily on the US parent. Coinbase says no customer lost money. The fine takes effect only once the High Court confirms it.

Dentons interviewed in-house lawyers at ten companies, including eir, Flipdish, Uniphar and Wayflyer, and found grievances, complaints and GDPR requests increasingly drafted with AI. Almost nobody reported using it to replace roles, though the sample is small.

The talent pipeline is shifting too. Heron’s report counts 583 first-time practising certificates in 2025, up 54%, and 581 trainees, the highest in 17 years. But 82% of trainee contracts were in Dublin, and 65% of sole practitioners, often a rural area’s only solicitor, are 50 or over. A new apprenticeship route and firmwide AI rollouts may change how juniors learn the job.

In Wednesday’s Tá, the Sector Spotlight will be Finance & Markets.

The tooth fairy is going corporate, with Dundalk startup My Forever Tooth Fairy planning a €500,000 funding round next year. Meanwhile, Dublin's TalentHunter is taking its 'Tinder for jobs' recruitment platform across Europe, maybe with fewer unanswered messages than the original. Influencer fatigue is also setting in, with consumers growing tired of constant sponsored content and even influencers with millions of followers struggling to attract views. Meanwhile, Irish whiskey is still waiting for Trump's promised tariff removal. Between getting work-ghosted, losing followers and waiting for promises to materialise, the tooth fairy might be the most reliable person in business this week.

The Read – RTÉ Brainstorm – Why you may find the Tuesday after a bank holiday such a downer

Quinton O’Reilly asks why some people return from a long weekend flat rather than refreshed, and finds the answer lies less in the calendar than in work. Dr Bert van den Bergh argues post-holiday blues, like Blue Monday, can dodge a harder question about job dissatisfaction. Dr Kelly Dickson adds that productivity culture turns free time into a task list, from DIY to short getaways. It’s commentary rather than hard data but the argument remains practical. A useful Tuesday read for anyone managing a team, or their own boundaries... Link: Why you may find the Tuesday after a bank holiday such a downer

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