COALITION TO FREE UP LAND FOR ADDITIONAL HOUSING - The Coalition is set to use its capital spending plan, to be announced later this summer, to invest in projects which would free up more land for private housing development and reduce building costs.
The plan is expected to contain at least one large infrastructural project, such as a Luas link from the city centre to the airport or other north Dublin transport options, and smaller, local projects, writes the Irish Times. Sources said one of its aims will be to try to make more land suitable for private housing development to help with the housing crisis, especially around Dublin. Development contributions - levies paid to local authorities by builders to help fund infrastructure - may also be reduced further to bring down the overall cost of construction. While individual rates are a matter for local authorities, the maximum allowable rates can be cut by legislation. Fine Gael and Labour have identified housing as one of the key issues to be tackled before the election through efforts to increase supply. Sources have said that while the general election will come before large-scale house building is complete, signs of life in the construction industry may yield a political dividend. The Government earlier this year announced its intention to build 1,700 social housing units by 2017.
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BOOST FOR IRISH EXPORTERS AS STERLING SOARS - The surge in the value of sterling alongside a falling euro will continue into July, experts predict. Ireland's exporters look set to reap further benefits following a week in which no major currency outperformed Britain's pound, writes the Irish Independent. The UK buys more Irish goods than anyone else. With negotiations between Greece and European officials crumbling and the indebted nation's future in the euro hanging in the balance, investors are pouring money into relatively stable sterling. Data pointing to an economic recovery firming up in the UK and the Bank of England's moves toward raising interest rates are adding to the pound's strength. Sterling climbed to a six-and-a-half-year high against a basket of its major peers last week. It has gained 5% in the past three months alone, the best performer among 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The same index shows the euro is down 3.9% this year. "Sterling has this remarkable attraction, it stands out," said Steven Englander, global head of G-10 currency strategy at New York-based Citigroup, the world's biggest foreign- exchange trader. He's telling clients he expects the pound to climb to its strongest level versus the euro since the start of the global financial crisis in late 2007. One of the biggest beneficiaries is Irish exporters, many of whom are paid by buyers in sterling but pay most of their outgoings in euro.
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SHUTTERSTOCK TO CHALLENGE GETTY IMATES AFTER VARIETY TIE-UP - Shutterstock is challenging Getty Images’ dominance as the world’s biggest distributor of high-fashion and entertainment photos after striking a deal with the owner of Hollywood trade magazine Variety. The New York stock photo service, which has a market value of $2.2 billion, is forming a partnership with Penske Media Corporation to distribute images and video from events such as the Academy Awards and designers’ runway shows, writes the Financial Times. The companies did not disclose the financial value of the partnership, which will be announced on Monday at the Cannes Lions advertising festival. Jay Penske, PMC chief executive, said he expected the long-term aggregate value of the partnership for his company to exceed $50m. PMC will retain ownership of its photos, while Shutterstock will take charge of selling them to its 1.3 millio customers. PMC previously had a deal with Getty, but Mr Penske said his company “saw a better opportunity in aligning the PMC brands with Shutterstock, which we believe to be the ascending platform for imagery and video”.
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ETSY, THE ONLINE MARKETPLACE, IS BREWING TROUBLE WITH WITCHES AFTER IT BANS SELLING SPELLS - Etsy has attracted the ire of so-called witches for banning the sale of metaphysical services, or spells. As an online marketplace for handmade goods, Etsy became popular with supernatural sellers after eBay banned spells and other metaphysical products in 2012. Etsy had allowed such services to be sold as long as they didn’t guarantee results and came with something tangible, such as a wand, writes the London Independent. The guidelines have since changed. A notice on the site reads: "Any metaphysical service that promises or suggests it will effect a physical change (e.g., weight loss) or other outcome (e.g., love, revenge) is not allowed, even if it delivers a tangible item." In a forum on the Etsy website an administrator said that Etsy believes in freedom of thought, expression and religion, just as long as there was no promise that the object would effect physical change.
