🏦 Monzo adds €25m, rail freight drops 35.2%, Ornua reviews its co-op model

15 September 2026

Good morning. Monzo is putting another €25m into its Irish European base, Irish Rail is adding engineering support while freight use keeps falling, and Ornua is reviewing its co-op model. We also have fresh legal and regulatory movement, 5% US Treasury yields, a busy On the Move and AI is heading to the Ploughing. Let’s get into it.

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1. Monzo Puts Another €25m Into Its Irish European Base. Yesterday we looked at Revolut reaching €1bn in Irish lending… now, it’s newest competitor Monzo has injected another €25m into its Dublin-headquartered European operation, taking parent funding into the entity to close to €100m over the past two years. The Irish-regulated business is now being used to support expansion into Spain, while Monzo’s Irish team stands at about 60. Ireland is becoming more than the launch market; it is the operating base for Monzo’s wider European push.

2. Irish Rail Adds €30m Of Engineering Support As Freight Keeps Losing Ground. Irish Rail has signed an eight-year, €30m agreement with Amey for signalling, electrification, telecoms and engineering support on a project-by-project basis. The result is stark as Ireland recorded the EU’s steepest fall in rail freight last year, down 35.2%, and the lowest volume per person. Much of the current rail investment is aimed at expanding passenger capacity and reliability, while freight still has a considerable amount of catching up to do if the reliance on the roads is to give.

3. IAG Returns €500m While Astellas Adds Capacity In Kerry. Aer Lingus parent IAG has completed a €500m share buyback, bringing total repurchases to €1bn in the midst of Aer Lingus staff cuts. Astellas is expanding its Tralee manufacturing site with a second aseptic filling line and associated infrastructure. Different uses of capital, but both are significant decisions by major Irish-linked employers as one returns cash to shareholders, the other puts more physical manufacturing capacity into Ireland.

4. Ornua Starts Its Next Co-Op Review As Kerrygold Faces A Pricing Test. Ornua has begun a new phase of engagement with its member co-ops aimed at extracting more value from the model. The work predates its row with Tirlán, but the dispute shows why the review matters. Tirlán is supplying Costco butter at around $15/kg while Kerrygold commands roughly $21/kg in US supermarkets. Protecting a premium brand while keeping members happy is becoming a practical strategy problem.

5. Silvercrest Gets Its Irish Licence And Builds Out Dublin. US wealth manager Silvercrest has secured Central Bank authorisation to offer investment services from Ireland across Europe and appointed Goodbody’s Fintan Maher to lead its European office. The Nasdaq-listed firm manages about $25bn in assets and now has four staff in Dublin. It is a small team for now, but the important bit is the licence since Ireland has become the regulated gateway for its European expansion.

The US 10-year Treasury yield pushed above 5% for the first time since 2023 as markets increased bets on another Federal Reserve rate hike this week, adding to pressure on equities and borrowing costs. Euronext says it is open to a merger with Deutsche Börse or a tie-up between their exchange businesses, which would create a far larger European markets operator as Brussels pushes for deeper capital markets. China, meanwhile, is sitting on an estimated one million-plus unsold electric cars, with exports outrunning demand and thousands reportedly parked in European ports. Brent briefly topped $109 after Saudi Arabia shut a pipeline following drone strikes and Gulf states postponed talks with Iran on Hormuz. For Ireland, the immediate read is higher funding costs, more expensive energy and another reminder that an export-heavy economy remains exposed to decisions being made far beyond its borders.

Legal & Regulatory

Legal aid solicitors and their clients are still waiting on each other this week, but almost everything else in the sector moved.

Cabinet approved priority drafting of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2026, which would make naturalisation conditional on Irish or English language proficiency and stricter self-sufficiency tests, a policy justice minister Jim O'Callaghan frames as bringing Ireland closer to the EU norm. Rights groups have already warned it risks excluding migrants from Irish life; expect that argument to intensify once the actual text lands.

The criminal legal-aid standoff deepened rather than resolved. Michéal Martin and Simon Harris both pushed for direct talks over the Law Society's preferred independent mediator, but the numbers explain the urgency: legal-aid certificates fell to 393 in August, down from 2,868 a year ago, a collapse the Law Society says has left criminal courts "all but ground to a halt."

Regulation moved on two other fronts. Coimisiún na Meán opened its first investigation under the Online Safety Code, against X, over weak age-verification and parental controls; and security workers got a state-mandated pay rise, with an Employment Regulation Order lifting the sector minimum from €15.41 to €16.15 an hour from 28 September.

The profession itself is adapting too: the Law Society opened a new apprenticeship route into solicitor qualification, dropping the degree requirement, while AI platform Newcode began training 475 lawyers across 30 firms under Ireland's first coordinated legal AI-adoption programme.

Watch whether the citizenship bill's actual text softens or hardens the language requirement once published.

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

Tuesday – On the Move…

Mark Garvey / Wendy Chang Smith, Glanbia: Garvey steps down as CFO after 13 years, leaving the role next March and the board in April 2027. Wendy Chang Smith, currently chief digital and transformation officer, is CFO designate and takes the seat and title on 31 March 2027, having previously held finance roles at Amazon, Kellogg, J&J and P&G.

Fiach Kelly, Diageo Ireland: Promoted to corporate relations director from head of policy and public affairs. A former political correspondent at the Irish Independent and deputy political editor at the Irish Times, he also spent time as a Department of Justice special adviser.

Matthew Lynch, Mastercard: Appointed director of government affairs and policy, joining from Meta. He previously advised both Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach.

Joe Moore, Bord Bia: Named north America manager, a market worth €2.1bn in exports last year, moving from Tokyo.

Peter Cullen, Click&Go Holidays: Promoted to CEO after a decade at the firm, most recently as COO.

Dave Porter, Harris Bus & Coach: Named managing director after nearly 40 years in the sector, including senior roles at Van Hool and Wrightbus.

Around 80,000 people are expected at the National Ploughing Championships today, where 350-plus competitors, bigger machinery displays and even a Google AI team are taking over Screggan. Ireland’s grocery habits are moving at a slightly slower pace with Coca-Cola still number one for the 22nd year running, with Tayto third, Brennans seventh and Avonmore eighth. So, while Irish agriculture embraces AI and ever-bigger machinery, the country still runs remarkably well on crisps, sliced pan and fizzy drink.

The Read / Listen – Business Post – Kilkenny Design open to bringing brand overseas, CEO says

Peter O’Dwyer speaks to Kilkenny Design chief executive Evelyn Moynihan about the retailer’s next stage of growth, including approaches about taking the brand overseas and a current focus on building digital sales in the US. The company employs 222 people across 19 Irish outlets, while operating profit rose from €504,000 in 2024 to €1.31m last year. It also gets into the less glamorous side of retail expansion: labour, energy, city-centre trading and supply-chain costs. Link: Kilkenny Design open to bringing brand overseas, CEO says

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