Ardstone, the Irish property investor and developer, has acquired a zoned site in Dublin capable of delivering 1,400 homes as the group closes in on Ires Reit as the largest private residential landlord. Joe Brennan reports.

Two-thirds of businesses found it difficult to source staff throughout this year, underlining ongoing shortages in sectors including hospitality, healthcare, retail, industrial and warehousing, a new report from Excel Recruitment shows. Colin Gleeson has the story.

As news outlets try to “meet readers where they are,” more and more different tools are being used to disseminate the news. But not all of them are working. In his column, Hugh Linehan looks at the disasterous roll out of a personalised news podcast by The Washington Post and what it says about the news business today.