MICHAEL O'LEARY, PETER SUTHERLAND ATTEND BILDERBERG CONFERENCE - Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary and Peter Sutherland, chairman of Goldman Sachs International, will fly the flag for Ireland at this year's Bilderberg, which commences today.
Founded by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 1954 to, in its own words, foster transatlantic dialogue, Bilderberg's exclusion of reporting press has seen the three-day annual meeting take a spot in the modern conspiracy spectrum equidistant between the Freemasons and the Illuminati. This year's significant facts: the 63rd Bilderberg is taking place near the Austrian Tyrol town of Telfs, 40km down the road from where the G7 meeting took place. This year's high-profile guests include Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and British chancellor, George Osborne, says the Irish Times. The topics on the agenda include Greece, the US elections, Iran and the Middle East, as well as the opportunities and challenges posted by artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and terrorism. Often referred to as secretive, Bilderberg has its own website and publishes a list of attendees. No media representatives are present except invited guests such as the Economist's new editor Zanny Minton Beddoes and Martin Wolf of the Financial Times.
***
LABOUR RELATIONS COMMISSION TRIES TO BROKER DEAL IN AIB PAY TALKS - The Labour Relations Commission has been asked to intervene after pay talks at Allied Irish Banks broke down. Union chiefs believe bank management are sympathetic to their cause, but have suggested the negotiations are complicated by the fact that the bank is state-owned and any deal is subject to political approval. It comes as a survey of 1,700 of the bank's staff found that 60% ranked the issue of wage increases as very important, writes the Irish Independent. The issue was referred to Kevin Foley, director of conciliation, workplace mediations and early resolution services with the Labour Relations Commission just over a week ago. The Irish Bank Officials Association union has launched a poster campaign among its members in AIB dubbed 'It's Time to push for the pay rises. "Other parties have to be consulted other than the two principles," an IBOA spokesman said. "It's hard to determine precisely where the particular hold up is. An additional factor has been the departure of the chief executive, which has also created a hiatus in the process. We would be hopeful that some kind of proposal is possible through the LRC," he added.
***
SHANNON AIRPORT REPORTS 5% JUMP IN PASSENGER NUMBERS - Shannon Airport has reported a 5% year-on-year increase in monthly passenger numbers for May. Unsurprisingly, the biggest growth market was the US, the highest spending market for inbound tourism, with an 18% increase seen across the airport's US network which includes services to Boston, Chicago, New York (JFK), Newark and Philadelphia, says the Irish Examiner. Shannon Group CEO Neil Pakey said: "We are having a really good start to the summer season again. The airport is busy, there's a great buzz here, we are seeing more inbound tourists and the Irish economy is continuing to rebound, so outbound passengers are also on the rise. All this is reflected in growth last month," he said. "From an inbound perspective, the US is a hugely important market and the 18% growth in May will be well received in tourism- related businesses across the region. We are also up by 15% in terms of European passengers and 3% on London, the single biggest city market for Shannon by far," he added.
***
THREAT OF LONGER, STRONGER EL NINO SET TO TURN UP HEAT ON COMMODITY PRICES - Farmers and commodity investors around the world are braced for weather disruptions affecting harvests and markets as leading meteorological agencies have warned of a longer and stronger than expected El Niño phenomenon, says the Financial Times. Japan’s Meteorological Agency warned on Wednesday that the El Niño of 2015 is growing stronger and that its effects could last until the winter. Tamaki Yasuda, senior co-ordinator at the JMA, said his agency’s models included scenarios in which the 2015 weather event could produce higher temperatures than in 1997-98, the strongest El Niño on record. The comments come after Australian forecasters this week noted widespread warming of sea surface temperatures not seen since 1997, when the strongest El Niño on record wreaked havoc on harvests around the world. “It is unusual to have such a broad extent of warmth across the tropical Pacific; this has not been seen since the El Niño event of 1997-98,” said the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, whose announcements on the climatic phenomenon are closely watched. El Niño tends to build up in the latter half of the year, peaking in the northern hemisphere winter. Although meteorologists are still uncertain how strong the weather event will be as well as the actual climatic effects, they say that the impact is already being felt in some parts of the world.
