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McKillen acquires Beach Site

Developer Paddy McKillen jnr’s Oakmount has acquired the clifftop lands and access route to Magheramore Beach in Co Wicklow.

While the sale of the 21-acre site by its previous owners had raised fears in relation to the question of future public access to the beach, The Irish Times reports Mr McKillen and his business partner Matt Ryan are adamant that this will not be an issue.

The developer secured the Magheramore site for €700,000 in an online auction presided over by agent BidX1 on June 25th last. While the amount paid represents a massive premium on the €210,000 the property had been guiding in advance of its sale, intense competition involving five parties on the day saw bids surpass the €550,000 mark. Wicklow County Council was among the unsuccessful underbidders.

Rift on Child Indoor Dining

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan have differed over unvaccinated children accompanying their parents inside restaurants, pubs and cafes. holohan

The Taoiseach insisted yesterday that he did not see “any difficulty” with parents bringing unvaccinated children when indoor dining resumes next week.

His comments follow an intervention by Dr Holohan, who warned parents to dine only outdoors with their children until more of the population is vaccinated.

Legislation on indoor dining for people who have been vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19 allows for unvaccinated under-18s to eat inside in the company of an adult.

Speaking at an event in Co Offaly, Mr Martin said people should “exercise their own judgment”, but insisted he did not envisage a problem with people bringing their children for meals indoors.

“In many instances there won’t be any difficulty in terms of children, in my view, accompanying parents in a controlled environment,” he said.

Amapola to fly Donegal rote

Swedish airline Amapola Flyg will begin flying the Dublin Airport-Donegal State-subsidised service, lost when Stobart Air folded, from the end of the month. Donegal Airport 2

The Government sought bids from airlines to provide the Dublin-Donegal service shortly after Stobart, which operated the route under a public services contract, ceased trading last month.

Eamon Ryan, Minister for Transport, and Hildegarde Naughton, Minister of State, said on Thursday that their department had awarded the public services obligation contract to Amapola Flyg.

The Swedish carrier will begin flights between the capital and Donegal for seven months from Monday, July 26th, according to a statement.

'Just Eat' reports take-out surge

European food-ordering firm Just Eat Takeaway.com has said it expects profitability to improve, as it reported a 51% surge in overall orders for the first six months of 2021.

Chief executive Jitse Groen said he expected adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to rise following the acquisition of Grubhub in the United States in a $7.3 billion deal earlier this year.

"Adjusted EBITDA losses, mainly caused by U.S. and Canadian fee caps and our investment programme, have now peaked", he said in a trading update.

"We therefore expect to trend back to profitability going forward while retaining significant growth during the second half of the year."

Dail passes Dining Bill

The Dail has passed the Health Amendment Bill, which restricts access to indoor dining to those who have been fully vaccinated, or recovered from Covid-19, and some children sdonnelly0720

and staff.

The Bill was passed by 74 votes to 68 after a manual vote. . All Opposition parties voted against the legislation.

With Government TDs expressing concerns about the law’s constitutionality and Opposition TDs repeatedly claiming it is discriminatory and unenforceable, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said: “The principle is there.”

“The entire European Union digital Covid-19 certificate is based on vaccination status,” siad Mr Donnelly, adding: “We’ve already accepted the principle.”

Acknowledging that the plan is “imperfect”, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said it was a better “middle path – a safe path” between either fully reopening hospitality without restrictions or keeping it closed until there is herd immunity.