Taxback.com Founder Terry Clune Named Entrepreneur of the Year

Business and Leadership Ltd.

Terry Clune, who established global income tax service firm Taxback.com in 1996, was named Ernst &Young; Entrepreneur of the Year at Dublin’s City West Hotel last night. Taxback.com provides international tax, finance, and travel consultancy services to clients in over 100 countries. The company has 600 staff in 17 countries processing 130,000 tax refunds, 30,000 visas, and 60,000 international money transfers annually. Taxback.com recently opened an office in Haiti, supported by Denis O’Brien’s company Digicel. From its office in the Digicel building in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, the company’s 24 new staff will provide tax documentation assistance to customers, mainly in North America. Also featuring in last night’s awards was the Clonmel-based engineering…

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European Movement Ireland marks 60th birthday

Business and Leadership Ltd.

Sixty years ago this week 100 people gathered in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel to establish the Irish Council of the European Movement. As the oldest organisation dealing with European affairs in Ireland over the course of the past 60 years the mission and vision of European Movement Ireland has developed and evolved. Its original objective of advocating for Irish membership of the European Economic Communities (EEC), as the EU was then known, has shifted since 1973 to encompass and reflect the changing priorities of Ireland’s relationship with the EU. In recent years, as this country has experienced seismic economic shifts, European matters have come to the forefront of the Irish national media…

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Professional Flight Training Exhibition to take place in Dublin in March

Business and Leadership Ltd.

The Professional Flight Training Exhibition is set to take place in The Convention Centre Dublin on Saturday, 22 March. Organisers are expecting to welcome hundreds of young Irish hopefuls to the seventh annual event. Budding aviators will have the opportunity to meet with airline representatives and flight training professionals to explore a career as a commercial pilot. The one-day exhibition is aimed at helping Ireland’s new fleet of pilots to explore future opportunities and to assist them in determining the requirements, career prospects and flight training costs of becoming a highly trained commercial pilot. Experienced flight trainers will be available to provide information and advice about how to become a…

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Darina Allen receives outstanding achievement award at Cork Chamber event

Gillian Keating, president of Cork Chamber, John Higgins, EY, Darina Allen and Conor Healy, CEO, Cork Chamber

Darina Allen receives outstanding achievement award at Cork Chamber eventGillian Keating, president of Cork Chamber, John Higgins, EY, Darina Allen and Conor Healy, CEO, Cork Chamber Owner of the Ballymaloe Cookery School Darina Allen has received an outstanding achievement award from Cork Chamber for her commitment to promoting Irish food. The teacher, food writer, cookbook author and television presenter was presented with the award at Cork Chamber’s Dublin Dinner, in association with EY, at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel last night, 18 November. Gillian Keating, president of Cork Chamber, said that Allen in her capacity as owner of Ballymaloe Cookery School had put Irish food on the world stage. “She sits…

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Nimbus researchers secure €1.5m in EU funding for energy efficient buildings projects

Business and Leadership Ltd.

Researchers from the Nimbus Centre at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) have secured €1.5m in EU funding as part of the development of two international projects. The Horizon 2020 projects are in the ICT for Energy Efficient Buildings call for 2015. The first is called ‘Tools for Continuous Building Performance Auditing’ led by Dr Susan Rea and Dr Alan McGibney. The second is ‘Modelling Optimisation of Energy Efficiency in Buildings for Urban Sustainability’ where Dr Christian Beder with Juan Manuel Escaño and Dr Niel Canty will optimise building energy control mechanisms, and implement automatic fault detection and equipment maintenance. A virtual reality environment will be created, allowing building maintenance staff…

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SFI launches strategy plan, gives details of €30m funding in research infrastructure

Minister Richard Bruton, Prof Mark Ferguson and Minister Sean Sherlock

SFI launches strategy plan, gives details of €30m funding in research infrastructure Pictured: Minister Richard Bruton , Prof Mark Ferguson and Minister Sean Sherlock A new eight-year Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) plan was launched today, along with details of a €30m investment in research infrastructure by the Government agency. As part of the ‘Agenda 2020’ strategy, SFI said it aims to become “the world’s best science funding agency in the world at creating impact from excellent research and demonstrating clear value for money invested by 2020”. Other targets include attracting a top-tier international prize-winning scientist to lead an SFI-funded team in Ireland by 2015 and having an SFI researcher/team to win a major…

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European Insurance Forum 2013 to be held in Dublin in May

Matthew Elderfield, deputy governor of the Financial Regulator, is to be a speaker at EIF 2013

European Insurance Forum 2013 to be held in Dublin in May Matthew Elderfield, deputy governor of the Financial Regulator, is to be a speaker at EIF 2013 The European Insurance Forum (EIF) 2013 is taking place in Dublin on 9 and 10 May, bringing together the industry and regulatory community to address major issues facing the sector. The Dublin International Insurance & Management Association (DIMA) is holding the conference, which is themed ‘Face the Future’. International re/insurers in Ireland have continued to provide on-going stability to their policyholders for almost 25 years, most recently against a background of events such as Superstorm Sandy, the Costa Concordia sinking and devastating US…

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Increase in cloud implementation across organisations in Ireland – Microsoft/Amárach Cloud Index

Microsoft/Amárach Cloud Index

Increase in cloud implementation across organisations in Ireland – Microsoft/Amárach Cloud Index Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD today joined Microsoft as part of National Cloud Week to launch the findings of the second annual Microsoft/Amárach Cloud Index. The index focuses on tracking the adoption of cloud computing amongst organisations in both the public and private sector in Ireland. The second Microsoft/Amárach Cloud Index stands at 3.6 out of 10, up from 3.2 last year, which suggests a steady increase in cloud implementation across organisations in Ireland. Particularly pronounced is the increase in the average score among organisations with between five and 50 employees, which has moved…

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INM makes two senior appointments as part of ‘Digital First’ revamp

Business and Leadership Ltd.

Independent News & Media (INM) has appointed Claire Grady as editor of the Irish Independent and Ian Mallon as head of news across its three main print titles – the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent and the Herald, and of digital. Both executives will report to INM editor-in-chief Stephen Rae , who is reshaping the newsroom to deepen its relationship with readers in print and online. He said the appointments were part of the strategy to build a “digital-first, seven-day newsroom”. Grady is the first woman editor of the Irish Independent and previously served as a news editor of the Irish Independent before becoming opinion editor, executive editor and then editor on the…

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