| Hibernian buys in to Vivas | Mobile calls take to the skies | Davy Predicts Weak Economic Growth Until 2010 | Changes planned for the Deposit Protection Scheme | Tax Relief on Foreign Medical Expenses |
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| Hibernian buys into Vivas |
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Hibernian Insurance has recently announced its purchase of a further 28% stake in health insurance provider Vivas, bringing their overall control to about 70% with Allied Irish Banks holding the remainder. It is reported that the purchase of shares from senior management at Vivas has cost Hibernian in the region of €8m.
Hibernian and AIB previously became partners in the insurance sector when they merged Hibernian Life and Pensions with Ark Life in 2006.
Joint backing by AIB and Hibernian will allow Vivas’ products to be sold both through AIB’s branch network and Hibernian’s direct and broker networks.
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| Mobile calls take to the skies |
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The telecoms regulator, Com-Reg is set to allow the use of mobile phones on commercial airlines flying to and from Ireland. This closely follows a similar decision taken by Ofcom in the UK in relation to British airspace.
Ryanair intends to introduce the service later this year whilst Aer Lingus has no immediate plans for same.
Ryanair will launch its service at international roaming charge rates which are higher than the 60c per minute EU roaming charges. Calls will be enabled by mobile base stations on the aircraft which will communicate
with satellites.
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| Davy Predicts Weak Economic Growth Until 2010 |
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Davy Stockbrokers has forecast that Ireland’s economic growth will fall to 2% in 2009.
In a monthly report, Davy Research said that it does not expect economic growth to return to normal levels until 2010. It now expects GNP growth of 1% this year and 2% for 2009, down from a previous forecast of 3.4%.
The stock broking firm also expects the house price slump to continue and predicts that prices will fall by a further 10.7% this year and by a further 7.2% next year. Davy has reduced the number of completions it expects to see next year from 40,000 to 25,000.
By the end of 2009 it also forecasts that unemployment will have hit 7% - compared to 5.5% currently.
Davy has slashed its forecasts in response to what it calls the “negative wealth effect”. It says that consumers are finding it harder to get credit as the labour market weakens.
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| Changes planned for the Deposit Protection Scheme |
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The Government is planning changes to the deposit protection scheme in order to offer better safeguards to
bank customers in the event of an Irish institution suffering a Northern Rock style collapse.
Under the current rules, Irish savers can only receive 90% of the money they had deposited at a failed bank or building society, subject to a maximum of €20,000. Therefore customers with large lump sums would have to split their money between several banks in order to gain maximum protection.
The Irish scheme applies to banks that are authorised to do business here by the Central Bank. Irish customers of foreign banks operating here are protected by the scheme of that bank’s home country. Irish customers of Dutch bank Rabobank, for example, would be eligible for compensation under the Dutch scheme.
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| Tax Relief on Foreign Medical Expenses |
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According to the latest list of approved institutions issued by Revenue, tax relief can now be claimed on medical expenses incurred in a growing number of countries. Along with Northern Ireland, Britain, North America and Western Europe, some clinics in Poland, Romania, Thailand, Russia and Iran have now been added to the list.
According to the 1997 Taxes Consolidation Act, any institution approved by the Minister for Finance in consultation with the Minister for Health is recognised by the Revenue as qualifying for tax reliefs. |
Depending on the claimant’s Irish PAYE tax band, refunds of 20% or 41% can be applied for on all medical expenses incurred.
According to the Department of Finance it is “very rare” for a medical institution to be turned down for inclusion on the approved list as long as it “ticked all the boxes”.companies.
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