Good morning. Motor insurance premiums are climbing despite lower injury compensation, Glenveagh is leaving London, and Bloomberg is planning to double its Irish workforce. Meanwhile, grocery shoppers are making more trips but putting less in the trolley, while legal disputes are keeping the courts and regulators busy. At least The Craic has good news for anyone partial to a cake or burrito. Let's get into it.
The Top 5
1. Motor Insurance Premiums Rise Despite Lower Injury Compensation. Irish motorists paid an average premium of €655 in 2025, up 4%, according to new Central Bank figures. Insurers' average claims costs per policy rose 10% to €424, driven partly by more expensive vehicle damage claims, even as personal-injury compensation remained 13% below 2019 levels. Allianz Ireland has separately reported stronger profits, adding another dimension to the industry's financial performance. For drivers and businesses with fleets, cheaper injury settlements have yet to translate into lower annual insurance bills.
2. Glenveagh Leaves London As Irish Homebuilders Revise Their Plans. Glenveagh intends to delist from the London Stock Exchange on 30 November, retaining its Dublin listing after deciding the additional costs and administrative burden were no longer justified. Separately, Dublin City Council has raised concerns about its proposed 682-home development in Belcamp and Balgriffin, particularly parking and the future adaptability of homes. Cairn is also seeking to revise its Cork development plans to add 63 homes. Both builders are making changes, although the planning proposals still require decisions.
3. Bloomberg And Starlink Expand Their Irish Recruitment Plans. Bloomberg plans to double its Irish workforce by 2030, expanding its Dublin software engineering and enterprise-data operations. SpaceX's satellite internet business Starlink is advertising 13 Dublin positions, including senior business operations and development roles, while Stripe is recruiting a technical account management leader with a salary reaching €225,600. The activity spans engineering, commercial operations and customer technology services, showing the range of functions international companies are building and recruiting for in Ireland.
4. Ardagh Agrees $90m Disposal As Restructuring Continues. Irish packaging group Ardagh has agreed to sell its 42% stake in metal-can manufacturer Trivium as part of a $3.4bn transaction, expecting approximately $90m in net proceeds for potential reinvestment or debt reduction. The move follows the removal of a court restriction affecting a separate potential asset sale, as Ardagh continues reshaping its business under creditor ownership. Completion is expected in mid-2027.
5. Grocery Inflation Rises As Irish Shoppers Chase Value. Irish grocery inflation reached 4.69% in the 12 weeks to 4 October, up from 4.28%, according to Worldpanel by Numerator. That contrasts sharply with official CSO figures showing food prices rose just 0.4% in the year to September, reflecting different measures and reporting periods. Shoppers are making 2.9% more store visits but buying 5.7% fewer items per trip, while promotions now account for 21% of grocery spending. Whatever the headline inflation figure, the cost of living remains a significant influence on how households spend.
World in 60 Seconds
France’s borrowing costs climbed as violent cost-of-living protests added to the government's fiscal troubles, pushing its 10-year bond yield to 4.93% and widening the gap with Germany. Brussels has accused private equity giant KKR of providing misleading information during its €22bn Telecom Italia network acquisition, potentially exposing it to fines. European telecoms giants Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefónica are exploring a joint satellite venture to challenge Elon Musk’s Starlink. AI stocks rebounded on Monday after last week's sell-off, with CoreWeave gaining 3.4% following a Goldman Sachs upgrade. Meanwhile, Anthropic plans to commit 5% of its shares, valued at approximately $48bn, to a public-benefit fund, subject to shareholder approval. That's quite a charitable pledge from the firm who’s staff have spoken about its threat to humanity and particularly interesting given its future IPO.
Today’s Sector Spotlight
Legal & Regulatory
Legal and regulatory pressure is building where the rules themselves are still being fought over.
Criminal defence solicitors escalated their legal aid protest on Monday, with some firms telling court presidents they will withdraw from all criminal defence work, including custody cases, unless Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan engages directly with the Law Society. His spokeswoman called that unnecessary and regrettable, noting an 8% fee rise for Circuit Court and higher cases and over 3,385 certificates, worth over €1.7m, issued since 1 July. The District Court flat fee is €520, replacing €240 for a first appearance and €60 afterwards. Judgment in Quinn v Minister for Justice, a challenge to those regulations, has slipped from 13 October to 03 November, with judges urging both sides to settle.
Deal-makers face a different gap. Enterprise Minister Peter Burke raised the transaction values that trigger mandatory notification to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in July, but the order lapsed on 30 September because the Oireachtas did not approve it in time. The Irish Times reports that deals agreed or completed since then could face investigation. That is exposure to review rather than proof any deal is invalid. It is nevertheless a concerning oversight.
In the High Court, Merleview is suing Elkstone Capital Partners and a special purpose vehicle (a company set up to hold one project) over a planned 145-apartment Leopardstown scheme, alleging misrepresented returns and undisclosed fees. The defendants deny every claim, and both sides plan mediation steps before the case returns in November.
Dublin fintech ArmadilloPay, meanwhile, secured a Central Bank e-money licence, allowing it to issue electronic money and provide regulated payments, alongside a €2m seed round.
Watch 03 November, when Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty is due to rule in Quinn.
In Wednesday’s Tá, the Sector Spotlight will be Finance & Markets.
The Rotation
Tuesday – On the Move…
Terri Dempsey and Adrian Mulryan, Irish Funds: Dempsey, State Street’s country head in Ireland, has been appointed chair of the Irish Funds Members’ Council, succeeding Andrea Kelly of PwC. Mulryan, chief executive of Invesco Investment Management, becomes vice-chair. The council represents more than 150 member firms.
Teresa Morahan, BDO: Appointed technology, media and telecommunications sector lead across the UK and Ireland, overseeing the firm's advisory services to businesses operating in the sector.
Kelley Cousins, Analog Devices: The former Meta Ireland head of communications has joined the semiconductor manufacturer as head of communications for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She previously held senior communications roles at AMCS and Vodafone.
Mark Docherty, Egis: Appointed energy director for Ireland and the UK, leading the engineering consultancy's expansion across the sector. Based in Edinburgh, he brings almost 40 years of experience, most recently as global offshore wind practice lead at Arcadis.
The Craic & the Scéal
More food, hooray! Aldi has renewed its €5m deal with Limerick’s Twomey’s Bakery, bringing more cakes, bread and tartlets to Irish shelves, which is excellent news for anyone whose weekly shop already includes an unplanned visit to the bakery aisle. Boojum is also taking its chances, investing €600,000 in a new Swords restaurant despite Dublin’s increasingly crowded burrito market and the Instagram-fuelled popularity of pizza slices. Perhaps getting out of the city centre is no harm. Meanwhile, Subaru wants to use software to speed up car development. It appears Musk’s Tesla flying car is inspiring everyone to get a bit more techy. Speaking of Musk, he’s promising SpaceX shares to American children next year. Lovely for them. If he ever makes it to Mars, perhaps they'll be able to afford the ticket.
Worth Your Time
The Read – Business Post – What to expect from mega tech earnings this week: Netflix, SpaceX, Tesla and Meta (Requires free account)
Four earnings reports in two days will test whether last week’s chip sell-off was a pause or a warning. Netflix and SpaceX report today, Tesla and Meta tomorrow. Vish Gain gathers analyst expectations for each, including whether SpaceX can post a first adjusted profit and Cantor Fitzgerald’s view that Meta’s capital spending now needs mass adoption to pay off. The forecasts are consensus figures rather than results, so they work best as a benchmark for checking the numbers as they land. Link: What to expect from mega tech earnings this week: Netflix, SpaceX, Tesla and Meta
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