Latest news with #MichaelDowling
Irish Times
11-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Does it make financial sense to buy a holiday home?
Got any holidays planned? With the high cost of a house rental, resort or hotel stay in Ireland this summer, owning a bolt-hole of your own can appeal. But how much will it cost, and can you make it pay? Unless you can buy in cash, you will need a mortgage to buy a holiday home. The maximum loan-to-value a bank will offer for such a property is 70 per cent, says Michael Dowling of Irish Mortgage Brokers. Take for example a €300,000 holiday home, like No 10 Ballyconneely Holiday Homes in Galway, which is currently for sale at that price. With a 70 per cent loan of €210,000, you will need to come up with €90,000 yourself. When it comes to repayment, most lenders restrict the term for holiday homes to 25 years, says Dowling. READ MORE Bank of Ireland, AIB and PTSB all lend for holiday homes. However, you will have to pay 'buy to let' interest rates , which are more expensive than typical residential mortgage rates. [ Mayo housing official apologises for 'distress' caused by holiday home boycott proposal Opens in new window ] Even if you don't plan to rent out the property, or you plan to use it to work remotely for months at a time, you will still pay buy-to-let rates because it's not your primary residence. 'You are looking at rates from 4.85 per cent to 5.75 per cent on a variable basis, which is significantly higher than what's available for a [family] home loan,' says Dowling. Newer lenders Avant, MoCo and Nua Money don't lend for holiday homes. Haven, a subsidiary of AIB, will lend for holiday homes at home loan rates, says Dowling. You can still only borrow 70 per cent of the purchase price, but variable rates are between 3.75 and 3.95, or between 4.15 and 4.35 for a two- or five-year fix, Dowling adds. Monthly repayments on a €210,000 mortgage over 25 years at 4.35 per cent would be about €1,150 a month. Cost benefit Compared to the cost of staycations over 25 years, is there a case to be made for a monthly mortgage payment on a holiday home? Families are paying big money from now until the end of August for a week in tourist hotspots such as Brittas, Ballyconneely and Baltimore. Holiday rentals range from €1,500 to €2,700 for a week in high season. Take for example a four-bed, three-bath house in Rosslare Strand, Co Wexford, which is currently for rent for €1,550 a week. Or, you'll pay €2,200 for seven nights in a house in Brittas Bay Park, Co Wicklow, this month. Looking ahead to July 2026, a seven-night stay in a three-bed self-catering lodge at Centre Parcs in Co Longford will set you back €3,250. If you've got children or grandchildren, then family getaways in summer, at school midterms, at Easter and at the new year can all really add up. Few families will spend €13,800 – the annual mortgage on your €300,00 holiday home – on holidays in a year. But by spending that on a holiday home, it could be argued you are investing in a potential asset too. Running costs Of course, the full cost of owning a holiday home is more than just the mortgage. You'll have to pay property tax, electricity, gas, the TV licence, and home insurance, as well as for ongoing maintenance and repairs. Basically, think of all the costs you have in running your regular home, and double them. While utilities will cost less than your primary residence, some heating when you are not present may be needed to ward off dampness. And apart from those with a preference for a rustic break, you'll probably want a similar level of comfort to your regular home. That means broadband and TV subscriptions too. Grass-cutting is another overlooked cost. If you are not there to do it, you'll be paying someone. Depending on the size of your grounds, this could be between €500 and €700 a year. Also, bin charges even for the holiday season will come to about €30 or €40 a month. If you are buying in a holiday development, expect to have to pay management fees too. These can be pretty hefty, depending on the grounds and amenities. [ Airbnb landlords and holiday home owners are squeezing native speakers out of Gaeltacht areas Opens in new window ] Take a three-bed, two-bath mobile home at Jack's Hole resort at Brittas Bay, which is currently for sale for €312,500. Amenities at the mobile home park, which has a private beach, include tennis, boules, volleyball, basketball, a games room, children's play areas, a soccer pitch, boat moorings and water sports. Management fees here are a hefty €5,000 a year. Rental income The majority of second homeowners don't rent them out, estate agents will tell you. Those who do can recoup some of their costs, but they will incur others. If you are using a letting company to advertise the property and to manage bookings, clean between bookings, respond to guest queries and oversee repairs, they will take a percentage of the rental income as their fee. And any income from renting a property will be taxed at up to 52 per cent, depending on your marital status, tax credits, reliefs and other income. If your home is used as a dwelling for fewer than 30 days in a full year, you'll have to pay the vacant homes tax. If you are one of those who use a holiday home for just two weeks in the summer and again for a week each Easter and at the October midterm, you'll fall into this category. Having risen progressively since its introduction in 2022, the tax for the chargeable period ending October 31st, 2025, is seven times the local property tax applying to the home. If you own a second home valued at €300,000 that is occupied for fewer than 30 days a year, you will pay the annual local property tax of about €315, plus an additional charge of €2,205 a year, for a total owner liability of €2,520 a year. Latest census figures show there were 66,135 vacant holiday homes in April 2022, an increase of 4,000 since 2016. The most popular counties for homes used for recreation or leisure are Donegal, Kerry, Cork, Wexford and Mayo, according to CSO figures. There were 339 vacant homes in Cork liable for the vacant homes tax in its first year, 308 in Donegal, 298 in Kerry, and 236 in Mayo – all holiday home hotspots. You can contact us at OnTheMoney@ with personal finance questions you would like to see us address. If you missed last week's newsletter, you can read it here .
Business Wire
25-06-2025
- General
- Business Wire
Values-in-Action Foundation Honors Leadership From Across the U.S.
CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Over 400 Clevelanders will come together to celebrate the stories of this year's 2025 Values Matter honorees as Values-in-Action recognizes leaders who put their values in action every day on Thursday, June 26, 2025, at Landerhaven (6111 Landerhaven Drive, Mayfield Heights, OH). The evening will also highlight high school cheerleaders who made a 97-year-old woman's dream come true and share how the kindness of others can make a difference in the eyes of today's youth. Together for an evening of inspiration and positivity, the 2025 honorees include national gun violence prevention advocate and healthcare leader, Michael Dowling (Northwell Health) along with Michele Benson & GBS Corp., Brent Ballard (Calfee), Paul & Lauren Hanna (Blue Technologies), Dr. Shelly Senders & Senders Pediatrics, and Scott DiMauro & the Ohio Education Association. While these individuals and organizations are surely deserving of recognition in their own respective fields, for this event, they all have one thing in common: their ability to achieve success while also being kind, caring, and respectful. Their example makes us all better and, because people copy what they see, their actions have the power to ignite a movement. Values-in-Action and its Kindland initiative are committed to making kindness the dominant core value in our schools, communities, our state, and our nation — with Cleveland and Ohio leading the way. Now in its 31st year, Values-in-Action is a Cleveland-based, non-profit organization that empowers students and adults to build communities of kindness, caring and respect through programs that teach, promote, and provide skills and tools to enable individuals to make positive, values-based decisions every day. Since starting as Project Love in 1994, Values-in-Action has trained more than 2.2 million students in over 5,000 schools in all 50 states. The words 'Just Be Kind' have never been more timely or necessary. Our nation faces deep division and growing anger. While the number of mass shootings has declined slightly from the staggering high of over 600 in 2023, gun violence remains a pressing crisis. Though campus protests have quieted since the spring of 2024, teen mental health continues to deteriorate, and rates of suicidal ideation and teen suicide are at an all-time high. We need kindness now more than ever. Join us recognize the kindness of leaders in our community and inspire others to do the same. For additional information about the event, the honorees, or Values-in-Action programming, call Amanda Guarnieri at 440.463.6205 or visit
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Values-in-Action Foundation Honors Leadership From Across the U.S.
2025 Values Matter Honorees Recognized for Their Extraordinary Service CLEVELAND, June 25, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Over 400 Clevelanders will come together to celebrate the stories of this year's 2025 Values Matter honorees as Values-in-Action recognizes leaders who put their values in action every day on Thursday, June 26, 2025, at Landerhaven (6111 Landerhaven Drive, Mayfield Heights, OH). The evening will also highlight high school cheerleaders who made a 97-year-old woman's dream come true and share how the kindness of others can make a difference in the eyes of today's youth. Together for an evening of inspiration and positivity, the 2025 honorees include national gun violence prevention advocate and healthcare leader, Michael Dowling (Northwell Health) along with Michele Benson & GBS Corp., Brent Ballard (Calfee), Paul & Lauren Hanna (Blue Technologies), Dr. Shelly Senders & Senders Pediatrics, and Scott DiMauro & the Ohio Education Association. While these individuals and organizations are surely deserving of recognition in their own respective fields, for this event, they all have one thing in common: their ability to achieve success while also being kind, caring, and respectful. Their example makes us all better and, because people copy what they see, their actions have the power to ignite a movement. Values-in-Action and its Kindland initiative are committed to making kindness the dominant core value in our schools, communities, our state, and our nation — with Cleveland and Ohio leading the way. Now in its 31st year, Values-in-Action is a Cleveland-based, non-profit organization that empowers students and adults to build communities of kindness, caring and respect through programs that teach, promote, and provide skills and tools to enable individuals to make positive, values-based decisions every day. Since starting as Project Love in 1994, Values-in-Action has trained more than 2.2 million students in over 5,000 schools in all 50 states. The words "Just Be Kind" have never been more timely or necessary. Our nation faces deep division and growing anger. While the number of mass shootings has declined slightly from the staggering high of over 600 in 2023, gun violence remains a pressing crisis. Though campus protests have quieted since the spring of 2024, teen mental health continues to deteriorate, and rates of suicidal ideation and teen suicide are at an all-time high. We need kindness now more than ever. Join us recognize the kindness of leaders in our community and inspire others to do the same. For additional information about the event, the honorees, or Values-in-Action programming, call Amanda Guarnieri at 440.463.6205 or visit View source version on Contacts Amanda GuarnieriPhone: 440.463.6205Email: guarnieriak@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Daily Mail
24-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Famous CEO who grew up in thatched hovel and started as janitor reveals secrets to his success
The CEO of New York's largest hospital system has revealed how he went from an impoverished boy living in Ireland to one of the most successful healthcare executives in the United States. Michael Dowling, chief executive at Northwell Health since 2002, has played an integral role in expanding the company from just one Long Island hospital to a chain of 28 hospitals and 1,050 outpatient centers across the tri-state area. But he certainly had humbler beginnings, which he has been reflecting on amid the news he is set to retire in October. Dowling, 75, told the New York Post that he lived in a thatched-roof house without running water. In the 1960s at just 16 years old, he left his tiny town of Knockaderry with just 500 residents for New York, one of the biggest cities in the world. 'I worked on the boats in Manhattan, I worked in construction, I worked in the plumbing business based out of New Rochelle - but mostly doing a lot of work in Yonkers in the Bronx. I worked cleaning out bars in Queens,' said Dowling. After having a storied career for last forty or so years, his advice is to simply outwork the competition. 'You do the best work you possibly can. You treat people well. You work harder than anybody else. You give it your best,' Dowling said. 'When you kind of climb the ladder of life, you don't know where the top rung is.' Another important part of his success, he said, is getting to know as many of his nearly 105,000 employees as he can. He takes workers out to monthly dinners and spends each Monday giving a two-hour orientation to new hires. He even used to walk the COVID floor of a Northwell hospital every day during the height of the pandemic. 'This is not done that often by CEOs - although I can tell you that a number of them are now doing it because they found out I was doing it,' he said. These warm welcomes aren't just for the sake of it, though. Dowling finds that they allow hiring managers to spot employees with lousy attitudes. 'There have been occasions when I've asked employees at orientation to leave,' he said, adding that this is a rare occurrence. 'Life is about opportunity. It's not about challenges. …People whine too much, people complain too much. "Aw, this was a hard day" - it's supposed to be hard!' Dowling said. 'Get over it. Suck it up, and deal with it for God's sake.' Dowling revealed he has never been afraid to roll up his sleeves and work manual labor jobs. But he eventually saved enough money working to put himself through school. He earned a master's degree in human-services policy in 1974 from Fordham University. Dowling taught social policy at the college and rose to become an assistant dean of the Jesuit university in the Bronx. He also amassed 12 years of government experience across a number of roles, including serving as deputy secretary to former Governor Mario Cuomo and New York's director of Health, Education and Human Services. Following a stint as a a senior vice president at Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, Dowling took an executive-level position in 1995 at the North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. That was the beginning of a historic upward trajectory for the man who started from the bottom and climbed his way up. Dowling inherited a growing hospital system. Five years before he took the helm, North Shore University Hospital bought out a failing hospital in Glen Cove. He continued this strategy even though there was plenty of skepticism, especially since he said there were 'no health systems in existence at all in this part of the country.' 'When you got to about 1996, we had about nine hospitals,' he said. 'Most people were looking at us and thinking, "What the heck are you doing?"' Later that same year, the company, then called North Shore Health Systems, requested a merger with Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park. The two hospitals were rivals, but the real obstacle became the federal government, which tried to block the merger. 'The Justice Department, I believe in response to advocacy by the insurance companies, sued us and took us to court to prevent the merger,' Dowling said. 'It ended up at a two-week court trial - and we won.' By 1997, Northwell had expanded into a 10-hospital system. These key acquisitions in the 1990s allowed for it to grow into New York City, Westchester County, and most recently, Connecticut. Northwell is now looking to get a bigger footprint in New Jersey. 'If you've traveled for more than a half an hour and you don't see one of our locations, call us because we've got to put something in there,' Dowling said.
New York Post
24-06-2025
- Health
- New York Post
CEO reveals secret to his success — his journey from janitor to head of behemoth Northwell Health
His drive never flatlined. Michael Dowling, the outgoing CEO of Northwell Health, has revealed in detail to The Post how he went from janitor to helping to build a behemoth system of 28 tri-state hospitals and 1,050 outpatient centers from a single Long Island facility over three decades. 'It's been an interesting journey,' said Dowling, 75, who grew up impoverished in Ireland and lived in a thatched-roof house without running water, to The Post, recalling how he left home for New York at 16 in the 1960s. 5 Michael Dowling, the outgoing CEO of Northwell Health, has revealed how he went from janitor to helping to build a behemoth system of 28 tri-state hospitals and 1,050 outpatient centers. James Messerschmidt 'I worked on the boats in Manhattan, I worked in construction, I worked in the plumbing business based out of New Rochelle — but mostly doing a lot of work in Yonkers in the Bronx. I worked cleaning out bars in Queens,' said Dowling, who will step down from his top spot in October. Sweating in boat boiler rooms, sweeping floors as a custodian, and performing any other manual labor never bothered the man from Knockaderry, who said it was great to just be 'able to put a little money in your pocket' for the first time. He then worked and saved enough to get an undergraduate arts degree and eventually earn a master's in human-services policy in 1974 from Fordham University, where Dowling began teaching social policy and rose to the rank of assistant dean. In 1995, after earning a polished resume in the Department of Health and Human Services and other high-ranking places, he was recruited as an executive to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. 5 Michael J. Dowling and Volodymyr Zelenskyy together at the Staten Island University Hospital. Lee S. Weissman/Northwell Health 'I knew it would turn out better than what I had growing up,' said Dowling, who became CEO of the growing hospital system in 2002 and was later named grand marshal of Manhattan's 2017 St. Patrick's Day Parade in recognition of his success. 'You do the best work you possibly can. You treat people well. You work harder than anybody else. You give it your best,' he said. 'When you kind of climb the ladder of life, you don't know where the top rung is.' Surgical precision Dowling entered uncharted waters quickly when he helped merge North Shore with failing Glen Cove Hospital in the mid-1990s, starting a domino effect that reshaped healthcare by eventually absorbing several underperforming facilities on Long Island. 5 Dowling said he would walk the COVID floor of a Northwell hospital each day during the pandemic. Lee S. Weissman/Northwell Health 'There were no health systems in existence at all in this part of the country,' he said. 'When you got to about 1996, we had about nine hospitals. … Most people were looking at us and thinking, 'What the heck are you doing?' ' The drama flared that year when North Shore began another merger, this time a contentious joining with its longtime rival, Long Island Jewish of New Hyde Park. Although the two sides had so much 'animosity' that they had to meet 'in a neutral location' to get the deal done, the federal government became the real obstacle, Dowling recalled. 'The Justice Department, I believe in response to advocacy by the insurance companies, sued us and took us to court to prevent the merger,' Dowling said. 'It ended up at a two-week court trial — and we won.' The acquisitions in the 1990s paved the way for Northwell's expansion into New York City, Westchester County, and, more recently, Connecticut, with an April merger with Nuvance Health. Dowling said the healthcare giant now has its sights set on New Jersey. 'If you've traveled for more than a half an hour and you don't see one of our locations, call us because we've got to put something in there,' he quipped. Bantering with the boss But Dowling said that if there's one part of the gig he most loves, it's getting to know his nearly 105,000 employees. 'It's unbelievably important,' said Dowling, who takes workers out to monthly dinners, walks the COVID floor of a Northwell hospital each day during the pandemic, and spends each Monday giving a two-hour orientation and Q&A to new hires, with a special one for physicians. 5 Outgoing Northwell CEO Michael Dowling, after receiving his Honorary degree at University College Dublin, with his siblings. Courtesy of Northwell 'This is not done that often by CEOs — although I can tell you that a number of them are now doing it because they found out I was doing it,' he said. More than just a warm welcome, the sessions make hiring managers think twice about who they are onboarding — and are an easy way to spot out any newcomer with a lousy attitude, the CEO said. 'There have been occasions when I've asked employees at orientation to leave,' Dowling said, although he added that most times it's the opposite, with him loving the interaction, and some new hires approach him to say how they relate to his journey. 5 'Life is about opportunity. It's not about challenges. … People whine too much, people complain too much. 'Aw, this was a hard day' — it's supposed to be hard!' Dowling said. James Messerschmidt If there's one thing applicants should know, it's that their boss, who will focus on leadership development as CEO emeritus in the fall, despises a poor attitude. 'Life is about opportunity. It's not about challenges. … People whine too much, people complain too much. 'Aw, this was a hard day' — it's supposed to be hard!' Dowling said. 'Get over it. Suck it up, and deal with it for God's sake.'
