BusinessPlus

ACTIVITY Authentic creator partnerships and local brand building have been the main areas of growth, along with events launching new products and services. Our clients are looking for creative campaigns that cut through all the ‘noise’. They want to build trust with customers/consumers and have moved towards greater share of voice and relying more on integrated messaging. We have found that AI has freed us up from certain tasks so we can focus on strategy and relationship building.

Ireland must future proof and deliver with pace on its €275bn infrastructure commitments, the annual Guaranteed Irish Construction Forum in Dublin has heard. Announced investments in housing, energy, water and transport are dependent on energy security, however, and greater grid capacity is required to facilitate their completion. With such uncertainty globally, the onus on Ireland is to get projects completed and at pace, Guaranteed Irish said.

Irish cinemas are expecting one of their busiest weekends ever as National Cinema Day becomes National Cinema Weekend. This Saturday and Sunday (5-6 September), participating cinemas will offer tickets at a recommended price of €4. National Cinema Day has proven to be a very successful initiative, attracting over 200,000 admissions in previous years, and admissions this weekend are predicted to exceed 350,000.

The economy as measured by gross domestic product grew by 10.2% in the second quarter following a sharp contraction (-7%) to start the year. The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show growth was driven by multinational-dominated sectors (+11.2%) such as industry and information & communication while domestic sectors were more subdued (+0.7%).

The value of fraudulent payments reported by Irish payment service providers increased by more than a quarter (+27%) last year to €179m. Figures from the Central Bank show there were €179.04m in fraudulent payments made in 2025, up from €140.8m the previous year. Fraud was found to have affected approximately one in 10,000 payment transactions, and the increase in fraudulent payment value was despite the number of fraud transactions rising only marginally.

Dublin creative agency Bonfire has named Nicola Wielopolski as creative director and Sinéad Lee as growth director. Wielopolski has wared with top creative agencies in Ireland and South Africa and has been recognised by Cannes, D&AD, New York Festivals, Clios and with several national awards. Highlights include a Cannes Silver for her Commission for Gender Equality campaign.

Business Plus and the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) have selected 40 brilliant young minds in the tourism industry as part of the 40 Under 40 series. Five finalists will be selected to attend the ITIC Annual Conference in the Convention Centre on October 1st, where Business Plus will announce the winner live on stage Growing up, Ella Anderson was fascinated by the experiences the industry creates and the positive impact it has on people, communities and destinations.

The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) has said the office market is continuing to stabilise, but that recovery is likely to be uneven with prime assets expected to outperform secondary stock. The supply of commercial property generally remains constrained as available space continues to decline and development activity remains subdued across major cities.

Kirby Group Engineering is set to double the size of its workforce in South Africa with the opening of a second location Cape Town The Limerick-headquartered group will create 50 new positions in the South African capital, bringing the total number of people it employs in the country to more than 110. The company will recruit for open positions, including mechanical engineers, electrical engineers (LV/MV & HV), MEP detailers, commissioning engineers and structural engineers.

Atlas Autoservice, the largest tyre and car servicing chain in Dublin, has completed the acquisition of four of its sites in Bray, Coolock, Dun Laoghaire and Donnybrook. The purchases form part of Atlas' strategy to own all the properties where it has depots. The company now has full ownership of most of its depot property portfolio following a series of investments over the past year.