The Business Post reported that a draft PwC report has warned clients to speed up the sale of assets and investments in their pension pots in order to protect their wealth ahead of Sinn Féin potentially being in power, with the party riding high in opinion polls.
The report, dated in March and marked “draft and for discussion”, analyses the impact of the party’s proposals to increase income tax on high earners and gains on asset disposals by wealthy individuals, as well as its plan to reduce tax relief on large pensions.
The paper said actions clients could take to mitigate the impact include accelerating “asset sales”, “pension contributions”, “gifts”, and bonuses and dividends.
File sent to DPP on alleged violation of sanctions on Russia
An Garda Síochána has filed a report with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) about an alleged violation of financial sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine, the Sunday Independent reporting, citing a garda spokesman.
The spokesman said that another alleged financial sanction breach is currently being investigated by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau. Contraventions of sanctions can lead to a maximum penalty of three years in jail and a fine of up to €500,000. The European Union has imposed 10 rounds of sanctions since Russia invaded its western neighbour in February last year.
The newspaper said that it is believed that the report submitted to the DPP is the first one on an alleged violation of sanctions on Russian entities. It did not give specific details on the case.
Guinness to shut brewery in Maryland
The Sunday Independent also reported that drinks giant Diageo is planning to shut a brewery in Maryland where Guinness Baltimore Blonde is brewed, amid changing consumer tastes. Close to 100 jobs will be lost in the US state as a result.
Guinness bought the site in Relay in 2001 and invested $90 million (€82.4 million) five years ago in the facility to brew Baltimore Blonde and develop a small-batch brewhouse for the Guinness Open Gate Brewery & Barrell House, modelled on the St James’s Gate experimental brewery in Dublin. The brewing of experimental beers and hospitality services will be unaffected by the closure of the larger plant, the newspaper said.
Ryan weights volte-face on LNG
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan has conceded that the Republic may need to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, reversing Green Party policy on the matter, the Business Post also reported.
The newspaper said that the Government was under growing pressure to accept the need for an LNG storage plant. It cites Minister Ryan as saying that the “the world changed a year ago” when those Nord Stream gas pipelines were blown up in the Baltic Sea.
The Minister’s Department is due to publish a new energy security review in the coming weeks, it noted.
Exiting Meta staff offered packages of up to €100,000
The Sunday Times reported that Meta’s Irish staff that are exiting the company are exiting under a redundancy programme are being offered departure packages of 16 weeks’ pay alongside two week’s pay per year of service.
This could result in packages of as much as €100,000 for some of the longest-serving Irish staff of the Facebook parent, it added.
Meta announced last November that it would be cutting 11,000 jobs globally, with 350 staff in its Irish hub affected.
