This was originally written for Progressive-Economy.ie The Government may be hiding up to €800 in austerity measures in their recent Medium-Term Fiscal Statement (MTFS).  I use the term ‘may’ because…

This is getting tiresome. ‘Minister of State Fergus O'Dowd has said that the Government believes it can save €600m by tackling social welfare fraud.’ The claim that the level of…

If one were to look at the headline rate – GDP – you’d say, well, it’s not great in Ireland but we’re doing better than the Eurozone.  After all, the…

So we have more austerity and less growth, more debt and less jobs, more spending cuts and less investment – welcome to the Government’s Medium-Term Fiscal Statement.  You have to…

If I hear one more time that we have exited the recession I’m going to put my head through the computer screen.  We’ve come to expect this line from Cabinet…

ICTU’s pre-budget submission, ‘Growth is the Key’ poses a direct challenge to the austerity programme being pursued by the Government – in both its critique but, more importantly, in the…

Third time's a charm. Following on from two previous posts (here and here), tracking the stat-bending the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council was engaged in, we can now put that issue…

In my post on the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council’s first report, I pointed out a significant error.  In short, they claimed that the underlying deficit fell from 14.3 percent in…

With the Government to publish its four-year plan in the next few weeks, we should try to nail down some basic numbers.  No doubt the plan will present an avalanche…

The EU-IMF deal does not require the Government to privatise state assets. I’ll repeat that. The EU-IMF deal does not require the Government to privatise state assets. Those who claim…

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council’s first report is out.  It is a poor start.  There is much to chew over but here I want to take up one contention –…

Colm McCarthy’s post on Irish Economy takes a sceptical look at ‘productive investment’, or more precisely, the Government’s claim that the New ERA proposals – can create up to 100,000…

Over the next 20 years Anglo-Irish (including Irish Nationwide) will cost the Irish taxpayers €90 billion.  Just reflect on that for a moment. Now repeat:  over the next 20 years…

Remember that statement – how during the boom years we all ‘partied’ as a nation? Remember those prescriptions – how we had to cut back our living standards, probably back…

It is difficult enough to wade through the mountain of data to assess what is really happening in the Irish economy. It doesn’t help when we have ministers selectively celebrating…

This was originally co-written for Progressive-Economy.ie with Michael Burke and Tom McDonnell The Anglo-Irish and Irish Nationwide debt must become a major political issue. The Anglo/INBS debt-burden is an unjust…

For households in work, if they manage to hang on to their jobs, it is going to be a difficult few years ahead if the projections for wage increases is…

This was originally written for Progressive-Economy.ie Philip Lane’s thoughtful article in the Sunday Business Post helps clarify the debate. For while he argues for further fiscal contraction, this should not…

The ESRI has produced a report on deficit and debt levels up to 2015 which has moved many to claim if we just stay the austerity course we will emerge…

Gene Kerrigan is a litle dubious about claims of Ireland’s ‘unexpected economic recovery’. The article by David Vines and Max Watson of Oxford University, which first appeared in the Financial…