ONE IN SIX OF US HAS NEVER USED THE INTERNET - One in six Irish people "has never used the internet", according to a new wide-ranging study by the European Commission.
The figures put Ireland firmly behind Britain (6%) in the European league of internet virgins but ahead of countries such as Italy (32%), Poland (28%) and Greece (33%) when it comes to the number of citizens using the web. Meanwhile, the European Commission says that 65% of Ireland's population now uses the internet every single day, while 28% of us now regularly use "cloud" services such as Dropbox or Google Drive, writes the Irish Examiner. The new figures come after a survey from Ipsos MRBI revealed that 60% of Irish adults now have Facebook accounts, with three-quarters logging in to the service every day. Almost 28% of us have Twitter accounts, while 24% of Irish people now use the job networking service LinkedIn. And most of us are now starting to use the internet to replace activities such as mobile phone texting, which is down nearly 20% over the last year. The Ipsos/MRBI figures show that 38% of Irish people have a Viber account, while 35% of us now use Whatsapp.
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McKILLEN'S ENTERTAINMENT GROUP'S EARNINGS RISE 28% - Earnings at Paddy McKillen’s Irish restaurant, pub and nightclub entertainment group last year increased by 28% to €2m. New figures lodged by Orsen Ltd with the Companies Office show that the group recorded the jump in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after revenues increased by €7.2m or 32% from €22.63m to €29.8m. Mr McKillen’s Irish entertainment business has flourished while he has become ensnared in a bitter dispute with reclusive billionaires, the Barclay brothers over the control of the luxury five-star Claridges, the Connaught and Berkeley hotels in London, says the Irish Examiner. The accounts for Orsen Ltd include the revenues of McKillen’s Wagamama restaurants here along with the revenues at the Everleigh Garden nightclub on Dublin’s Harcourt St and the Workman’s Club in Temple Bar adjacent to the Clarence Hotel he co-owns with U2. The expansion of the group has been driven by Mr McKillen’s son, Patrick McKillen Jr. Patrick McKillen Sr is listed as the ultimate controlling party of the business.
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FRENCH PHARMA GROUP SHIFTS IP TO IRELAND - French pharmaceutical company Flamel Technologies is to shift all its intangible property from Ireland to France as a part of a global reorganisation, says the Irish Times. The deal will result in a one time tax payment of $14 million to the French government, and the intangible property Flamel will move includes patents on its drug delivery platform technologies, clinical data sets and other intangible assets related to its pipeline of proprietary products in development. “For operational reasons we believe this is the right time for the transfer of the intangible property to our Irish entity,”said Michael S. Anderson, chief executive officer. The drug company’s R&D function will remain in Lyon, while its clinical and supply chain functions will be headquartered in Ireland, and its commercial organisation will be centered in the United States. The group’s research teams in Lyon will operate on a contract basis for its Irish-based entity.
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CHURCHES SET UP CREDIT UNION AS ALTERNATIVE TO PAYDAY LENDERS - The Church of England has been given the green light to launch a credit union that it hopes will raise the profile of an alternative option to payday lending. The Churches’ Mutual Credit Union plans initially to offer savings accounts and loans from February next year, after receiving formal authorisation from regulators on Tuesday, writes the Financial Times. Canon Antony MacRow-Wood, the union’s president, said one of the aims is to raise awareness so more people will be inclined to use their local credit union rather than turn to more expensive forms of borrowing. He said it will “help the credit union sector grow” so that in 10 years’ time “there will not be a need for the payday lending sector”. The union has been initially formed for members of the Church of England, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church in Wales. It is estimated that at least 60,000 individuals plus churches and certain charities will be eligible to join. But once it gains scale and has built an established record, it plans to open access to all churchgoers.
