Ireland

More than 20 primary schools who reported to be in financial difficulty sought emergency funding from the Department of Education last year in the face of rising costs. However, latest records indicate that just one school was successful in securing additional funding, the Irish Times reported. Minister for Education Norma Foley has told schools which are experiencing funding difficulties to engage with the financial support services unit in the department.

Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe, whose leadership of euro-area finance ministers has elevated his global profile, is considering a bid to lead the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. Donohoe, 49, is currently Ireland’s minister for public expenditure and served as finance minister from 2017 to 2022. He has led the Eurogroup — the body of finance chiefs that steered the bloc through its sovereign debt crisis and the pandemic — since mid-2020, having been elected late last year for a second 2 ½-year term.

It was one of very few economies to get a boost from the Covid-19 pandemic. That unusual dividend is now unraveling, in a fresh blow to Europe’s already weakened growth outlook, the Wall Street Journal reported. Home to large U.S. technology and pharmaceutical companies that saw their sales boom during the pandemic, tiny Ireland recorded annual growth of 10.5% on average between 2020 and 2022 while other economies contracted under the effect of lockdowns. No other country grew as fast during this time apart from smaller Guyana, which enjoyed an oil boom.

Mallinckrodt plc (in examination under Part 10 of the Companies Act 2014 of Ireland, and hereinafter "Mallinckrodt" or the "Company") announced on Friday that the High Court of Ireland (the "Irish High Court") has made an Order confirming a scheme of arrangement between the Company, its creditors and shareholders (the "Scheme") as proposed by the Examiner of the company, according to a press release. As previously announced, Mallinckrodt's Plan of Reorganization (the "Plan") was confirmed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on October 10, 2023.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ will be insolvent by next spring if it does not receive proper funding, its director general has said, BBC.com reported. Kevin Bakhurst made the claim at a hearing of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) Public Affairs Committee on Thursday. He and other RTÉ officials are answering questions over a payments scandal that has plagued the public broadcaster since June. Mr Bakhurst said the organisation was managing its cash "as carefully as we can" to prevent this.

Countries like Saudi Arabia, Norway and Chile have long used sovereign-wealth funds to sock away windfall profits from periods of high prices for commodity exports like oil and metals for future years when their own production winds down or international prices plunge, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ireland on Tuesday created its own rainy-day fund thanks to outsize profits from an unusual and controversial source of income: U.S. technology and pharmaceutical giants seeking to lower their tax bills.

A sharp rise in Irish business insolvencies is being linked to ongoing inflation pressures faced by businesses in all sectors, the Irish Examiner reported. Data from CRIFVision-Net for the third quarter shows the number of companies becoming insolvent rose by 54% compared to the same period last year. A total of 185 insolvencies were recorded in July, August, and September, versus 120 in the third quarter of 2022. Ireland’s economy has remained relatively strong this year despite cost-of-living challenges and a mixed global outlook.

The number of businesses becoming insolvent has surged by a third in the first nine months of the year but remains below pre-Covid levels, the Irish Independent reported. Insolvency levels rose by 33pc in the first three quarters of 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to PwC’s latest Insolvency Barometer. The retail and construction sectors account for the highest number of business failures, but the failure rate is highest in the arts, entertainment and hospitality sector, according to Ken Tyrrell, business recovery partner, PwC Ireland.

Drugmaker Mallinckrodt said on Thursday that it had initiated examinership proceedings in the High Court of Ireland, as it seeks protection from actions taken by creditors during the chapter 11 bankruptcy process, Reuters reported. The Ireland-based company filed for its second bankruptcy in the United States last month, with a restructuring plan that would cut $1 billion from what it owes to victims of the U.S. opioid crisis. Read more.

A solicitor at a south Dublin law firm which had its accounts frozen by the High Court earlier this year has secured an order for statutory redundancy worth up to €6,400 against the practice, the Irish Times reported. Amanda Malone told the Workplace Relations Commission in April this year that her workplace had shut down on February 22nd this year, when she was out on sick leave. Ms.