Choppy economic times ahead, fiddling expenses and the cost of toothless sanctions

Ibec has slashed its growth forecasts for the Irish economy on the back of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and on the ongoing energy price shock. The employers' lobby group said it was now expecting the economy to grow by 4.3 per cent this year, down from a previous forecast of 6.1 per cent. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.

Irish fintech Fenergo has made its first acquisition, scooping up Amsterdam-based Sentinels and strengthening its ability to help customers tackle financial crime. The value of the deal was not disclosed, although it is understood to be a significant eight-figure sum. Ciara O'Brien reports.

Irish lamb and sheep meat will have full access to the American market under a new agreement reached between Ireland and the United States department of agriculture. Martin Wall reports from Washington.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy argues that it comes down to whether recession in Germany and the wider euro zone is a price we should pay to disentangle ourselves from Russia's war machine and to insist we will have no truck with such barbarism.

Fenergo buys firm to help clients monitor for financial crime

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Self-serving sanctions on Russia are little more than virtue signalling

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Covid pushes national debt up to €236bn

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European shares fall as Ukraine crisis and Fed worries weigh

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Pilita Clark warns office workers that it has become harder to fiddle your expenses.

Irish medtech start-up SymPhysis Medicalhas raised €1.9 million in funding to help the company finish its product development and push into the US market, writes Ciara O'Brien.

In our personal Finance Q&A Dominc Coyle deals with a reader's query who is concerned about leaving a french property in her will.

Tesco Ireland has teamed up with manufacturing firm Paltech to develop a new flower pot made entirely of recycled plastics, writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy The slate-grey flower planters, on sale in Tesco stores for €25, are made from waste plastic packaging, a major source of waste in the retail sector.

In our opinion slot, Sharon Higgins, director of membership and sectors at Ibec, argues that the Government needs to do more in helping business deal with rising inflation.

Interpath Advisory, the UK-based corporate restructuring and insolvency firm, is planning to build up a practice in Ireland with 120 staff within the next three to four years, after poaching six partners from KPMG and Deloitte in Ireland. Its chief executive Blair Nimmo talks to Ciarán Hancock on our Inside Business podcast about Interpath's ambitious plans for its Irish arm.

Plus: Sixty years after it first launched, Golden Discs is opening a brand-new concept store POP! at their flagship Dundrum Town Centre retail unit, to coincide with Record Store Day 2022. Chief executive Stephen Fitzgerald, whose father Jack was one of the founders of Golden Discs in 1962, talks to Ciarán about POP!, vinyl’s renaissance and the future of one of Ireland’s best-known retail brands.

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