SUN HOLIDAYS TO COST MORE AS REGULATORS TAP TRAVEL FIRMS ON LEVY - Regulators want tour operators to contribute 20% of their turnover to shoring up a fund used to compensate consumers for failures such as Lowcostholidays.
Industry figures warn such a move will drive up the cost of sun holidays. The Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR), which oversees travel agents and tour operators, wants to top up its depleted Travellers’ Protection Fund. In a recently-published report, the commission recommends that travel agents pay 8% of their turnover and tour operators pay 20% to the fund, used to compensate consumers who lose out when holiday companies fail, says the Irish Times. The regulator estimates that this would cost a typical travel agent, with a €2.5 million turnover, an extra €600 to €800 a-year, while it would cost tour operators €1,500 to €2,000 annually. Payments such as the €3.5 million given to Irish people stranded by last year’s collapse of Lowcostholidays have cut the amount in the fund from a high of €7.5 million in 2007/08 to €1.8 million. The CAR, led by commissioner Cathy Mannion, fears it will not have enough cash to cover the cost of another similar failure and it has been in talks with the travel industry about increasing contributions to replenish the fund.
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MURPHY EYES €7 BILLION ISIF CASH TO FINANCE NEW HOUSING BLITZ - Cash from the old National Pension Reserve Fund could pay for a ramp-up in housebuilding, according to draft proposals drawn up for Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy and circulated to the construction sector for response.
The Government may divert more money from the State's Irish Strategic Investment Fund (Isif) to help pay for much-needed housing as it considers bold new measures to tackle the growing homeless crisis. A draft document, drawn up by the Department of Housing and seen by the Irish Independent, sets out a greater level of involvement in the sector by Isif, which is managed by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). The tactic is designed to generate more private funding for affordable housing. In 2015, Isif injected €325m into Activate Capital, a €500m fund jointly controlled by US private equity fund KKR. Activate was set up to lend to private developers. Its deals to date include financing the €107m acquisition by Cairn Homes of part of RTÉ's Donnybrook campus in Dublin which is to be developed as luxury apartments. Isif's total resources are more than €7 billion. The draft Rebuilding Ireland document urges a wider use of the cash portfolio. It says the Government should "encourage [the] use of Isif funding to stimulate more finance house interest in affordable housing".
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SEVEN IN 10 IRISH FAIL TO MAKE WILL - Some seven in 10 Irish people do not have a will - including a third of over 55s, according to a survey by insurance fund Royal London.
The survey found that 64% of respondents over 55 already have a will in place, compared with only 8% of young adults, says the Irish Examiner. One in five of the 1,000 respondents admitted they had not put a plan in place because they "never really think about that sort of thing". Almost 30% said starting a family was the right time to plan a will, while 23% said when buying a house. One-third of respondents said they had not assigned anyone to look after their affairs when they died. Head of proposition at Royal London, Joe Charles said: "As a nation, it would appear that we are not great at planning for the future. Based on our research, pension, wills - anything that seems to be particularly long-term in nature - is often avoided and ignored by a large portion of Ireland's population. This is understandable considering wills and the like are not the most pleasant of topics. However, the absence of estate planning in families can often be the source of confusion and anxiety for those left behind," he added.
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SHORT-SELLER BLOCK SUES EQUIFAX FOR €500,000 OVER 'STRESS' OF DATA BREACH - Veteran short-seller Carson Block has launched a private lawsuit against Equifax, accusing the credit-reporting company of an "abysmal" handling of one of the worst cyber security incidents in history.
Equifax said on September 7 that its systems were breached by criminals in a raid that went on for more than two months - an admission that has prompted a flood of regulatory inquiries, dozens of private lawsuits and a more than one-third collapse in the company’s share price. The data of up to 143 million Americans was compromised, the company said, along with up to 400,000 people in the UK, says the Financial Times. One of those was Mr Block, whose suit filed on Friday accuses Equifax of negligence in failing to safeguard and protect his personal identifying information from criminals, as well as a failure to disclose the breach in a timely fashion. Mr Block's firm, Muddy Waters, has no short position that would benefit from a fall in the stock. In the suit, filed in the Northern District of California, San Francisco division, he seeks damages of at least $500,000 for the "stress, nuisance and annoyance" of dealing with issues stemming from the breach.
