Our 9 favourite business stories of the year
We take a look back at some personal highlights from Fora for 2016.
Peter Bodkin
Irish banana giant Fyffes is being taken over by one of Japan's biggest companies
The Sumitomo Corporation will pay just over €750m for the Dublin-based fruit supplier.
One of our journalists just won a major business news award
Fora reporter Paul O’Donoghue was declared ‘upcoming journalist of the year’.
The Central Bank is relaxing its mortgage rules for first-time buyers
Starter-home purchasers will only have to pay 10% deposits – regardless of the property value.
Employment hits a post-crash high amid some 'worrying signs' for Ireland's ongoing recovery
More people are joining the workforce as the number in jobs tops 2 million.
Hungary is bringing in the EU's lowest corporate tax rate
The competition to attract multinationals’ investment keeps heating up.
The IFA has a new boss and this time it's being very up-front about his salary
The move follows a pay scandal last year over former boss Pat Smith’s €500,000 salary package.
Irish TV seeks 'necessary and unavoidable' court protection over mounting debts
The company needs new investors to stay afloat.
Half of Ireland's tech workers think their skills will be obsolete in a decade
But IT professionals continue to be in hot demand with most fielding headhunting calls several times a year.
Online currency exchange CurrencyFair has raised another €8m - and found a new boss
Co-founder Brett Meyers will give up his CEO role as part of the change.
Google routed nearly €23 billion in sales through Ireland last year
The company paid €48m in corporate tax after most of the money went to royalties and other costs.
Eir is set to be taken over by a US hedge fund
Anchorage Capital Group already owned more than one-third of the telecoms company.
Yahoo could be forced to pay back its state grant after failing to hire promised Irish staff
The company has already paid out millions on redundancies since 2014.
Irish digital advertisers are spending more on mobile ads than desktop sites for the first time
Total spending across all platforms has gone up one-third in a year.
Project managers PM Group are planning a massive graduate hiring drive as profits rise
The company now employs more than 2,000 people worldwide.
State power supplier ESB is sinking €2.5 million into a solar energy startup
Terra Solar plans to develop farms across Ireland’s south and south-west.
European startup investment is drying up - but Irish firms are taking more than their share
Overall VC funding for the continent has dropped to the lowest level in nearly two years.
Mobile payments are taking off as Irish consumers embrace the technology
The share of people using mobile devices for payments has tripled across Europe in a year.
Cereal giant Kellogg's paid no tax on billion-euro European sales routed through Ireland
The company’s subsidiary delivered significant profits – but they disappeared in interest on an internal loan.
A new financier will offer €300 million in funding to Irish SMEs
Capitalflow has already provided one-sixth of the money after launching six months ago.