Latest news with #DannyMcCoy
Irish Times
17-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Ibec head labels Occupied Territories Bill ‘symbolism and moral positioning'
The Republic's stand against Israel over Gaza and its failure to spend properly on defence are damaging its interests in the United States and with other EU member states, the head of Irish employers' association Ibec has warned. The Government's plan to pass legislation banning 'tiny' sums of trade with the Occupied Territories Bill is 'hypocritical', said Danny McCoy, the director general of Ibec . Last year, the State bought just €240,000 worth of goods from the Occupied Territories, he told the Patrick MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal. 'We're not talking about millions here,' he said, adding: 'This is not about actually helping in any material way. It's symbolism and moral positioning, and so on. However, with moral positions, you can also reveal hypocrisy.' His comments follow a series of criticisms of the Bill by at least 10 members of the US Congress. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, accused Ireland of suffering from 'diplomatic intoxication' in progressing something as 'stupid' as this Bill. READ MORE Taoiseach Micheál Martin yesterday rejected the ambassador's comments and outlined the 'very serious' situation in Gaza. [ Taoiseach rejects US politicians' claims that Occupied Territories Bill is 'diplomatic intoxication' Opens in new window ] However, he said legislation to boycott, divest or sanction activity against Israel could 'inadvertently' affect companies. It would be 'counterproductive' for Irish companies to be punished, he said, adding that the Government will consider and take a legal opinion on this. The proposed Bill is expected to go before the Dáil in the autumn. The legislation would prohibit trading with companies operating in illegal settlements in the West Bank and other occupied territories. At the summer school on Thursday, Mr McCoy said the State's stand on Israel is 'well-intentioned' but 'causing us significant damage'. The consequences are not just from the United States and the Israeli position, he said. 'We've been completely insensitive to our other European colleagues who've also had really significant issues.' All of them have had struggles with anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in their societies in recent years: 'They have to go sensitively through that, and particularly in Europe as well. But we seem to be insensitive to that kind of dynamic.' He said he has personally experienced the Republic's fall in standing among fellow EU member states over the issues. Meanwhile, Irish attitudes to its own defence spending, but also to the defence spending of others, is losing the Republic support among EU states. 'We don't have many supporters,' Mr McCoy said. 'In terms of the business and economics, our goodwill is eroding significantly and substantially.' Also speaking at the summer school, Prof Brigid Laffan, chancellor of Limerick University, said Ireland should be 'more hard-nosed' and not endanger its diplomatic capital by passing the Occupied Territories Bill. 'We're a small state. We've limited influence. We must use our influence cleverly,' she said. 'Symbolic politics might make us feel good about the world. But unless it changes people's lives on the ground, you should not expend hard-earned diplomatic capacity.' . She added: 'In a world of such utter uncertainty, drawing attention to yourself in Washington might not be smart.' Often people in Ireland want to 'assure ourselves that we're good people', but we need to be 'a bit more hard-nosed', she said. 'I know the reaction saying things like this in this country gets, but I think we have to be able to have those conversations.'
Irish Times
12-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
US multinationals will be slow to return operations to US, Ibec leader says
Big US multinationals will be slow to heed President Donald Trump's demands to bring operations back to the country because of 'the chaos' currently existing in Washington, the head of Ireland's biggest business group has said. Businesses can learn to live with even penal tariffs , but they will struggle to cope with a business environment that can change day by day, Danny McCoy , the director of the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation, Ibec . 'It's hard to see how the US can actually credibly invoke the return of investment back into United States. Corporates will say the right things, but it's a big call to go back into something that's so random and so uncertain,' he said. Mr McCoy was speaking at a conference jointly organised by Ibec and the Confederation of British Industry at the Ballymascanlon House Hotel near Dundalk. READ MORE However unpleasant, tariffs are 'slightly a distraction', but even US-based multinationals will think carefully before they would 'wilfully' bring investments 'back into a regime that's so chaotic at the moment', Mr McCoy said. Equally, it must be remembered that 'a lot of the money in United States stock markets and so on is not US money, it's international money attracted to the safe haven that was the US'. Mr Trump has 'ripped up' the reserve currency status of the dollar: 'So, what we're likely to see that where the money goes for investment globally is not the United States,' he said. The question now for European Union states is whether they can get their 'act together to not only attract' their own money back, but equally to find ways to dramatically boost investment across the EU. On tariffs, research by the Economic and Social Research Institute has shown that Ireland could live with even a permanent tariff of 25 per cent on goods going to the US: 'You can adjust around tariffs,' he declared. Echoing some of the points made by Mr McCoy, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the state of the world's geopolitics creates opportunities for Ireland and the United Kingdom, especially if they can work together on issues of mutual concern. 'With challenge and with turbulence comes opportunity as well,' he said, adding that major business leaders have told British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer and himself that the two countries are now 'seen as a safe haven internationally for investment'. International investors have noticed the improving relations between the two countries in the wake of the Brexit disagreements, but 'also the common views, the common rules, basic sort of steadiness of how things are going'. Questioned about the tax and financial issues that are affecting people from the Republic and Northern Ireland who are working in the other jurisdiction, Mr Martin said those problems will have to be resolved. 'It is complex. It's not simple. My view is we do need to try and bring this to some conclusion because we do really have to reduce barriers and increase labour mobility,' he said. Currently, 18,000 people are known to cross the border daily for work, but, in reality, a far greater number do so but they use a relative's address as their residence for tax purposes – the so-called 'grannying' option. Though the workers do pay taxes to HM Revenue and Customs, or the Revenue Commissioners, they leave themselves open to tax audits, possible penalties and welfare complications by acting as they do. In addition, many workers who fully declare where they live are unable to get mortgages because financial institutions are unwilling to offer loans to people whose income could be affected by currency fluctuations. Extolling the value of all-island jobs mobility, Mr Martin earlier told the conference: 'One of the big things we say to US, or global multinationals is that we're part of the European labour market and there's free mobility of labour.' 'We want to develop the all-island skills agenda to meet our future skills needs – for instance in construction and infrastructure ‒ to better harness the potential of the island-wide labour market, for workers and employers,' he said.
Belfast Telegraph
12-06-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Micheal Martin to attend major North-South business conference
Mr Martin will address the Joint Business Council All-island Business Conference in Dundalk on Thursday. The conference is centred around protecting all-island business in a new global environment, with heightened geopolitical disruption. The event will bring together more than 150 business leaders, stakeholders and public policymakers to focus on the 'interconnected and cost-effective ways that businesses operate on an all-island basis'. The conference is jointly held by businesses representative groups the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (Ibec). They said businesses across the island are eager to see aligned policy support from both the UK and Irish governments that unlocks economic opportunities and broadens the benefits of cross-border cooperation. According to Ibec and the CBI, more must be done to strengthen and future-proof the all-island economy by enhancing collaboration around trade, infrastructure, sustainability, workforce integration, private investment and long-term resilience. Danny McCoy, CEO of Ibec, said: 'The restoration of the North-South Ministerial Council has cleared the way for improved cooperation across the island. 'However, the rise in global uncertainty stemming from US trade and tariff policies and growing geopolitical disruption means the all-island economy must focus on building resilience and deepening collaboration.' Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the CBI, said the conference comes at a critical time for businesses across Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the EU. She added: 'The disruptive impact of tariffs, tax retaliation, and a changing global order has only reinforced the urgent need to strengthen cross-border economic ties on the island of Ireland. 'In the current climate, policy stability and certainty are not optional but are prerequisites for investment in sectors that matter most to both of our economies, from manufacturing and agri-food to life sciences.
Irish Independent
02-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Government urged to address social welfare payments for workers facing temporary lay-offs due to US tariffs
A joint letter from the leaders of Ibec and Ictu to Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary asks that he urgently enhance financial supports for employees facing temporary lay-offs or short-time working 'during this period of heightened economic uncertainty'. Ibec CEO Danny McCoy and general secretary of Ictu, Owen Reidy said the current system of support is not fit for purpose and needs to be reformed. They said the new Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit scheme should be amended. The letter, which was copied to Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Enterprise Minister Peter Burke and Higher Education Minister James Lawless last week, said the new benefit that links jobseeker payments to former wages excludes workers whose hours may be cut. It said their organisations strongly supported the new Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit (JPRB) and believed that it is an important enhancement to the social welfare system. 'The new scheme, however, specifically excludes training activity during the first 26 weeks of receipt and also stipulates that recipients must be fully unemployed, i.e. those put on short-time working cannot avail of the scheme,' it said. 'While such workers can avail of the existing short-time working scheme, the daily rate payment is almost half of that available under the new JPRB.' They said many workers would be better off financially if made fully unemployed so that they can receive the higher weekly JPRB payment rather than continuing to work reduced days with their employer. 'This anomaly needs to be urgently addressed,' they said. 'We are concerned that many of our members are experiencing demand shocks as a result of the US tariffs and the wider economic uncertainty and supply-chain disruption that they are causing.' ADVERTISEMENT Learn more They said Ibec strongly believes that the State should seek to keep workers who face reduced working days or temporary lay-offs connected to their employers during this period of economic disruption. Workers should be encouraged to take up training and reskilling opportunities from the first day of unemployment, the business and worker representatives said. They recommended that the new JPRB scheme be amended to support those experiencing short-time working at a higher new scheme rate and that training be facilitated from day one of unemployment. 'Depending on demand, additional funding may also need to be allocated to support suitable training and upskilling initiatives for these workers,' the letter said. More than 2,500 people who lost their jobs have received up to €450 a week since the new pay-related jobseeker's benefit was rolled out from March 31. Those who have paid at least five years of PRSI are entitled to a weekly payment worth 60pc of their earnings, capped at €450. It is paid at this rate for the first 13 weeks out of work. A spokesperson for the Department of Social Protection said it provides support for workers on Short-Time Work under the Jobseeker's Benefit scheme. "This is an income support payment for those who have been temporarily placed on a shorter working week by their employer and which has worked effectively in response to challenges facing businesses," they said. "Pay-related Jobseeker's Benefit was introduced at the end of March. It applies to employees who become fully unemployed only."
