
Pressure on retailers to compete with Black Friday bargains
Shoppers can expect huge bargains over the coming weeks as Irish stores ramp up to compete with the rise of 'Black Friday' and 'Cyber Monday' sales.
Shoppers can expect huge bargains over the coming weeks as Irish stores ramp up to compete with the rise of 'Black Friday' and 'Cyber Monday' sales.
Suburbia underwent a spooky makeover this week, as thrill-seekers flocked to a south Dublin estate.
FATHERS are to be given paid paternity leave for the first time.
Some 60,000 low-income working families will benefit from changes to a Government scheme to boost their earnings.
JOBSEEKERS did not benefit from any of the social welfare increases given to pensioners and carers, sparking anger last night from Labour's own youth wing.
FREE preschool places will be available for children for up to two-and-a-half years before they start school.
PENSIONERS are to get a €3-a- week increase in their weekly payment, whereas lone parents and the unemployed will not see any improvement in their basic social welfare rates.
OVER a million people will benefit from the increase to the Christmas bonus this year.
Fewer than 500 children are benefiting from a government scheme designed to provide affordable after-school care to low-income families.
Parents are paying up to €10,000 a year for after-school care for just one child.
Mobile apps and handy pick-up points are driving a surge in online grocery shopping, according to retailers.
The Government now takes over half the price of a bottle of wine in tax.
The number of passengers travelling through Irish airports has increased for the third year in a row, but is still five million under its boomtime peak.
Tourism is booming with the number of people visiting Ireland soaring by 13pc already this year.
Ireland's second-hand economy is valued at more than €4.5bn, with thousands of us using the web to turn "clutter into cash".
The Blás Irish Food Awards organisation is testing the award-winning honey produced by two of last year's winners who were both found dead.
Dairy farmers earn seven times more than beef farmers while there are also enormous regional disparities in farm incomes, according to a new study.
THE GAA should be asked to help promote farm safety, a new Seanad report has urged.
Expiry dates on gift vouchers will be banned as part of a major overhaul of consumer law, the Irish Independent can reveal.
The Government is to ban expiry dates on gift vouchers as part of a major overhaul of consumer law.
Discount euro stores aren't always the best place to find a bargain.
The unemployment rate has risen in half the country over the first three months of the year, although the overall national rate has dropped below 10pc for the first time since the crisis.
Saying "I do" to a wedding invitation will set you back €800.
Two leading sun creams on sale in Ireland fail to deliver the sun protection claimed, according to tests carried out by consumer watchdog Which?
Nearly 2,500 homes have had their gas or electricity cut off this year because the bills weren't paid.
Two leading sun creams fail to deliver the sun protection claimed for them according to tests carried out by consumer watchdog Which?
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland is cracking down on overuse of marketing terms like natural, artisan and farmhouse.
THE rise of zero hours contracts and highly variable working hours put workers more at risk of illness and injury.
The Department of Finance has warned of serious risks surrounding the increase of the national minimum wage in a move that will spark fresh tensions within the Coalition.
Consumer spending is up 4.3pc in the last year with online sales growing three times faster than in-store purchases.
Tax credits for childcare can lead to costs going up, as has happened in other countries where they've been introduced, a Dáil committee on children has been told.
The number of unidentified files on children being investigated by child and family agency Tusla has risen to at least 1,200.
A hospital café was one of seven food businesses to receive closure orders during April, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has reported.
A lunchtime salad can contain more calories than a Big Mac and fries.
A lunch-time salad can contain more calories than a Big Mac and chips.
Homeowners are splurging €5m a week on doing up their houses.
Some 125 new jobs have been announced at a manufacturing plant that only last year was on the verge of closure.
From booking blunders to roaming bills, holidays can cost the earth if you're not careful. Aideen Sheehan helps you avoid the pitfalls
Cars and bars were the biggest beneficiaries of a mini-surge in consumer spending last month.
Effervescent vitamin C tablets are the country's best selling supplement - but consumers are paying widely varying amounts for similar products.
Consumers trying to put a pep in their step by taking victim supplements could be doing more harm than good.
An Post could end up throwing away letters that don't have enough postage paid on them under new terms it wants to impose on customers.
Farmers in Ireland face a €69m fine after finishing the year 4.3pc over milk quota.
Increased tax on high-alcohol wines should be considered to limit their health risk, a leading expert has urged.
More and more Irish people are saying make mine a craft beer, as they swap their usual pints for a seemingly more sophisticated tipple. But what they don't know is that a single craft beer can contain up to twice as much alcohol as some more mainstream beers, so they may actually be drinking a lot more alcohol than they think.
Irish people are waiting until they reach 25 before they fly the nest and get their own place.
Over half of Irish people are trying to lose weight and retail figures show people have been making the switch to healthier products.
The high cost of childcare is forcing 3,000 mothers a year out of the Irish workforce.
It aims to be the east's answer to the Wild Atlantic Way, showcasing the best of Irish heritage.
A year's paid maternity leave and subsidies for childcare providers are needed to ease the excessive childcare burden on grandparents, a group representing creches has said.
Petrol prices are still rising and the signs are that this is set to continue.
THE Australian authorities are investigating a migration fraud amid concerns Irish people may be using passports issued in their Irish-language names to conceal their identity as they seek visas.
Gaps in safety controls at Irish milk-processing plants have been highlighted in a Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) report.
Most secondary schools are serving up unhealthy junk food, such as pizza, sausage rolls and chocolate, to pupils.
Roscommon engineer Seán Finan has vowed to work to advance the cause of young farmers after being elected the 35th president of Macra na Feirme.
Energy drinks which are openly available in most shops can contain as much caffeine as four espressos or up to 18 teaspoons of sugar.
ALTHOUGH the humble glass of milk has not changed much down the generations, the level of scrutiny it's put under has dramatically intensified.
Ireland will see the number of dairy farms actually drop, even as milk production soars.
Dubliners love their kale and avocado, while Sligo cooks go for a chilli kick, and Donegal dwellers prefer berries and sweet potatoes.
Healthy sweets were attracting lots of interest at a Bord Bía conference matching up Irish foodmakers with international buyers yesterday.
ECONOMIC recovery led to an extra eight million trips being made on public transport last year.
Nearly everybody will buy a secondhand car at some stage in their life, but new research shows we're extremely likely to run into problems.
CHILDREN'S meals at restaurants often contain more salt than the maximum daily intake recommended by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
SNACKS that sound healthy can contain very high levels of sugar.
HALF of secondary roads and 10pc of national roads could have their speed limits reduced under new guidelines introduced by the Department of Transport.
Dairy co-ops have launched a major new farm safety drive as farmers expand to take advantage of the end of milk quotas next month.
Hundreds of children in Ireland have suffered ill effects from swallowing or handling liquid laundry capsules in the past four years.
A growing number of young people are becoming addicted to online video games, a leading addiction specialist has warned.
Observe age limits on games.
Shane Mooney is so aware of the pitfalls of computer gaming he's setting up a business to help children avoid them.
Some 7.6 million overseas visitors came to Ireland in 2014, spending €4.68bn, according to new Central Statistics Office figures.
Lower petrol, clothes and food prices have helped push the cost of living down 0.5pc in the last year.
TWO thousand young farmers have applied for a new scheme aimed at encouraging the handover of land to the next generation.
Former 'Evening Herald' editor Paul Drury was laid to rest after a packed funeral service in Rathmichael Parish Church in south Dublin yesterday.
OVER 10,000 consumers a week are being summonsed to meetings with the Department of Social Protection to get new identity cards or risk having their child benefit, free travel or other welfare payments cut off.
THE president Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny were both represented at the funeral of former Evening Herald editor Paul Drury today.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has called for the sale of unpasteurised raw milk to be banned after tests showed harmful bacteria.
MOTHERHOOD and employment are not compatible in Irish society, a new study into the lives of working women has found.
Families in Ireland spend 35pc of their income on childcare compared to 12pc in the rest of Europe.
HOPES that roaming charges would be abolished this year have been dashed as EU ministers backed a plan to keep them until at least 2018.
Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney is set to announce the establishment of a high-level forum to deal with fallout from the end of milk quotas.
EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan has promised to bring in new legislation to crack down on unfair practices in the retail sector by the end of the year.
Retail sales have soared by 8.8pc in the last year as consumers buy more big-ticket items such as cars, furniture and electrical goods.
Steep rocky mountainside on tiny plots of just a few acres are the starting point for coffee's long journey from bean to your morning cappuccino.
Ireland's growing legions of coffee connoisseurs will have spotted the latest must-have brew being rolled out across the country - coffee grown by women.
Energy companies have been accused of "fleecing" customers by not passing on the full impact of wholesale gas price reductions in gas and electricity bills to everyone.
The unemployment rate has dropped below 10pc for the first time since the economy collapsed in 2008.
Dublin hotel prices are half those of London and Paris, helping occupancy rates in the Irish capital grow to 78pc in the past three years.
THE 9pc tourism VAT rate has helped create over 30,000 jobs while costing the state a fraction of what was feared in lost tax revenue, it was claimed today.
IRISH consumers upped their spending on Fairtrade products by 12pc last year to €221m, even though overall grocery purchases only rose 1pc.
WHOLESALE gas prices have fallen by 18pc in the last year but households are only set to get a fraction of that reduction in their energy bills.
More than 30,000 single parents will lose their One-Parent Family payments this July, the Department of Social Protection has said.
THE Irish population is healthy but not very wealthy with prices here still higher than nearly everywhere else in Europe. A new report shows we're out-breeding, outliving and out-educating most of our neighbours, while we're also three times less likely to divorce.
IRISH prices are 20pc above the EU norm despite having the lowest inflation rate since 2009.
He's 34 and she's 32, they met at work and they plan to have two children who they'll call Jack and Emily.
THOSE looking for love this Valentine's Day have been warned that now is also the peak time for complaints about online dating services.
The Colosseum in Rome and the Sacre Coeur church in Paris are among 120 landmark sites going green for St Patrick’s Day.
The Colosseum in Rome and the Sacre Coeur church in Paris are among 120 landmark sites going green for St Patrick's Day.
Behaviour and the older age-profile of farmers are key factors in the rise in farm deaths, a new study by Teagasc has found.
So what exactly is the story with the Irish and drink?
Many consumers are now paying over €1,000 a year for home TV, broadband and phone services.
The Government's plan to force restaurants to put calorie counts on menus has been met with differing reactions.
Top chefs and doctors are sharply divided over the Government's move to force restaurants to put calorie counts on menus.
A PUB has been fined €7,000 for selling below-strength counterfeit Smirnoff vodka and misleading consumers and an investigator probing the fraud.
Consumer confidence has hit a nine-year high.
Unemployment continued its downward trend in January as another 3,600 people came off the Live Register.
IT'S pretty easy for me to support a move to higher alcohol prices given I don't drink.
Dairy farmers' earnings will fall by €30,000 each this year due to very low milk prices.
MORE than 400,000 Irish holidaymakers are expected to travel on traditional package holidays this year.
Dairy farms are the most dangerous of any workplace, accounting for 58pc of all farm fatalities, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA)has said.
The poultry industry must clamp down on a potentially life-threatening bacteria that has infected more people than ever before, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has warned.
RETAIL sales surged by 6.3pc in 2014, helped by strong car sales and an increase in Christmas spending.
INFECTION with potentially life-threatening campylobacter has surged to its highest level since records began in Ireland making it the most commonly reported type of food poisoning.