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# The briefcase
Here's everything you need to know about business this week
Everyone was talking about Dunnes strikes, a big plan for Longford and a Celtic Tiger phoenix.
EVERY WEEKEND, TheJournal.ie gives its readers the chance to put their feet up and take a look back at all the goings-on from the world of business.
Once again it’s time to delve deep inside The Briefcase for the important – and sometimes less-important – financial news that has come out this working week:
Dunnes Stores staff went on strike across the country. Workers manned the picket lines at over 100 branches nationwide over pay and conditions – particularly the company’s use of zero-hour contracts. Meanwhile, Dunnes won few friends with a one-day-only offer for 20% off everything bought online
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The biggest-ever private tourism project in Ireland is planned for Longford. UK company Center Parcs announced it wanted to add to its five existing “forest resorts” with its first holiday park in Ireland – near Ballymahon in Co Longford. The timing was a bit out though, with some people suspicious that early reports of the massive plan were just an April Fool’s joke
Celtic Tiger developer Johnny Ronan has left Nama’s clutches. Ronan, who is synonymous with the boom era, managed to put together a deal to pay off €300 million in liabilities to the state’s bad bank. And despite the country only now dragging itself out of the hole caused when the property bubble burst, it sounds like he is keen to get building again
EU milk quotas were consigned to the scrapheap. Irish dairy producers have been getting ready to increase production as much as 50% by 2020 with the end of the caps this week. And to coincide with the date, the humble Irish Dairy Board got a fancy corporate rebranding as Ornua. But we’re still not sure what will happen with the price of a pint of milk
Jay Z launched a new music-streaming service. The hip hop mogul is banking on people paying extra to sign up for the service, Tidal, over rivals like Spotify because of its premium sound quality. However many critics don’t think it will do much for fans or the industry – and will only line the pockets of its high-profile owners
Greece has been secretly planning to bring back the drachma. Maybe, although there are mixed messages coming out of the country about its ability to meet its next debt repayments on Thursday
Irish borrowers are paying over the odds for home loans. Average rates in the country for all homebuyers – except those on the super-low tracker mortgages handed out during the boom – are well above those elsewhere in Europe. And politicians want banks to do something about it
DIY chain B&Q is shrinking. There are fears over jobs at its Irish outlets after UK parent company Kingfisher announced plans to close 60 stores – although it hasn’t said which ones
Things are looking better for Irish workers. According to the Central Bank, jobs growth is going to continue this year and the recovery is going to spread to peoples’ wages – which have fallen on average since the start of the recession. But things aren’t nearly as rosy as in Germany, where unemployment just dropped to the lowest level since the fall of the Berlin Wall
And one for the road…
Drink (or the lack thereof) and Good Friday – it’s always a divisive issue.
So a few months ago, after Justice Minister Francis Fitzgerald flagged a change to the current alcohol bans, TheJournal.ie took to the streets to find out what people thought.
They didn’t hold back…
First published 4 April
MORE: Have a look at our business wraps from previous weeks >
