WI-FI COMING TO A LUAS NEAR YOU - The Dublin Chamber of Commerce is publishing a ten-point plan this morning which outlines measures that would turn Dublin into what it calls a 'knowledge city region'. The ambitious plan calls for increased Government investment in new generation infrastructure such as wi-fi.
One of the plan's authors and general manager of Hewlett Packard's Irish operation is Martin Murphy. He says that while Dublin is a 'super city' in which to live and work, there are some things that needs to be done in order to build it into a flagship city which can compete with the best from a global perspective.
The Dublin Chamber of Commerce plan seeks to do two things. The first is to put the discussion of the information society issue of back on the top of the Government agenda while the second is to put forward 10 initiatives, which if implemented by 2012, will make Dublin one of the top cities in the world.
He says that putting wi-fi on public transport will do two things - it will make the city a more attractive place in which to work and live and it will also make people leave their cars at home and opt for public transport - the holy grail of city planners. He says this is especially true with the Luas expansion plans and Metro plans coming on line. He says the public transport wi-fi plan has worked very well in other countries, and cites Oxford as a good example.
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MORNING BRIEFS - The British treasury has confirmed plans to back a private sector rescue of Northern Rock through the sale of Government-guaranteed bonds. It says the funding would be dependent on a 'robust and acceptable' business plan and guarantees to British taxpayers. It said the financing would be available to the three front-runners for a private sector deal - Richard Branson's Virgin Group - a rival consortium led by investment firm Olivant, and an in-house solution under new Northern Rock management.
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It is expected that there will be good news on the job front for Galway later today where the IDA is due to make an announcement around lunchtime. It is thought that 10 R&D jobs will be created at the Beckman Coulter medicare facility at the Mervue Industrial Estate. The announcement might go some way to softening the blow of recent job losses in the city. Abbott Vascular Devices announced before Christmas that all its 500 workers would be laid off by September, while Boston Scientific said the previous month it was getting rid of 100 people at its Galway plant.
*** KPMG is predicting that merger and acquisition activity should hold steady throughout 2008 despite the on-going global credit crunch. However it forecasts that while 2008 should hold even with last year, the value of deals is likely to fall away. The forecast is contained in KPMG's Global M&A Predictor. The auditing firm also believes any slowdown will be a 'fairly gentle, gradual one'.
*** The Nikkei in Tokyo is trading down almost 4% this morning. The slide followed a stimulus plan by the US on Friday which did little to calm fears about a recession there. Analysts say large investors dumped blue-chip stocks which they had bought too high ahead of the plan's announcement. Meanwhile the Hang Seng is also down by around 4.3%
*** The euro is currently trading at 74 pence sterling and $1.45.
