The Island

Ireland itself as the story: public services, state spending, infrastructure and policy, covered for the businesses and people they land on.

• Guinness Enterprise Centre expands UK links for Irish start-ups — The Irish incubation hub is building new routes into the UK through partnerships with organisations in Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland.
• Stripe plans 200 new jobs at Dublin headquarters — Stripe plans to add 200 engineering and marketing jobs at its Dublin headquarters, following reported increases in revenue and profit.
• Fórsa members at Oberstown to resume strike action in October — Fórsa members at Dublin’s Oberstown Children Detention Campus will stage a three-day strike from 5 October after a deadline passed.
• ASTI members set October dates for work-to-rule and strike action — ASTI members will begin a work-to-rule on October 5 and strike nine days later if meaningful pay talks have not begun.
• Squarespace commits €70m to Dublin operations and plans 120 hires — Squarespace is investing a further €70m in Ireland in partnership with IDA Ireland. The company also plans to hire 120 people.
• Google fined €403m by Irish watchdog over location data — Google has been fined €403m by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission over its processing of location data and the use of data for advertising.
• Dublin protest puts housing and living costs before Budget 2027 — Trade unions and political activists marched in Dublin over housing and household costs ahead of the 6 October budget.
• Energia to raise some electricity tariffs by up to 30% — Energia is increasing some electricity tariffs by up to 30%, citing volatility in wholesale energy markets and conflict in the Gulf.
• Coimisiún na Meán opens investigation into X over child safety controls — Ireland’s media regulator is investigating X over concerns about its age-assurance measures and parental controls.
• Irish child poverty rises despite growth in average incomes, research finds — Research from the Economic and Social Research Institute finds child poverty has risen, with housing costs pushing more children below the poverty line.
• SSE Airtricity to raise gas and electricity prices by about 9% — SSE Airtricity will increase gas and electricity prices for home energy customers next month, raising average bills by about 9%.
• CAO operator records almost €1m pre-tax profit after record applications — The Galway-based company behind the CAO recorded almost €1m in pre-tax profit in 2025, with profits up 27% as applications reached record levels.
• Bus Éireann worker awarded €40,000 after medical retirement dispute — The WRC ordered Bus Éireann to pay George Moloney €40,000 after finding he was penalised over a personal injury claim.
• Minister, RSA and gardaí to meet on motorway road safety — Senior officials from transport and justice bodies will meet on Friday to discuss motorway road safety in Ireland.
• UL course co-designed with Stripe celebrates first master's graduates — The University of Limerick has honoured the first master's graduates from its software engineering course, designed with Stripe and other technology companies.
• Ireland defers fuel excise duty increases as Dáil is recalled — The government will delay the planned reversal of fuel excise duty cuts. Enterprise Minister Peter Burke said the decision carries a significant cost.
• Irish alcohol excise is second highest in Europe, study finds — Irish consumers pay the second-highest alcohol excise duties in Europe. Excise and VAT make up half the price of an off-licence bottle of wine.
• Stripe reportedly agrees $7bn deal to buy OpenRouter — Dublin- and California-headquartered Stripe has reportedly agreed to acquire AI marketplace OpenRouter for $7bn.
• Stripe opens applications for 2027 Young Scientist exhibition — Stripe has opened applications for its 2027 Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition and increased the main prize to €10,000.
• Research spin-outs in Ireland employ nearly 2,500, survey finds — Enterprise Ireland’s 2025 Annual Knowledge Transfer Survey reports rising research activity and increased industry collaboration in Ireland.
• Bird remains found in Ryanair 737 engine after window incident — The US National Transportation Safety Board said bird remains were found in a Ryanair 737 engine after an engine part shattered a window during a July flight from Greece.
• Ryanair signs five-year Google Cloud deal for airline operations — Ryanair will use Google’s Gemini and DeepMind models for crew scheduling, custom AI agents and operational decisions under a five-year cloud partnership.
• Offaly shop closed after human waste overflowed into food area — The Village Shop & Takeaway in Mountbolus was among 11 businesses issued with closure orders after waste entered an area beside food preparation facilities.
• Three HSE consultants received pension lump sums above €490,000 — Three medical consultants received pension lump sums exceeding €490,000 after retiring from HSE roles last year. One payment was above €500,000.