What if we bought a modern telecommunications system, bringing Next Generation Broadband to every household and business in the country? What if we purchased a state-of-the-art waste and water system…

The recent Central Bank quarterly report confirms (as if we needed confirmation) that the economy remains in slow bleed mode. That they have revised downwards key domestic indicators is in…

What a government does with an unexpected windfall says as much about its economic priorities as what it does when faced with a cash shortage. Whether the interest rate cut…

A neighbour described to me a local community meeting where it was announced that the local Garda station would be closed. Why, the residents asked? A local councillor answered: ‘Because…

Yes, we got a pat on the head. Yes, as Stephen Kinsella put it, there was a ‘nothing to see here, keep moving,’ quality to the EU-IMF’s performance report. And,…

There is something a little unsettling about the Finance Minister’s exhortation that we all go out and spend; namely, that the analysis he has received from his advisors is so…

Stop the presses! Fine Gael has come out against a flat-rate household charge. All you wild and whacky lefties can put away your signs, leaflets and banners – the senior…

It gets this weird – the Government is subsidising companies that are cutting their own workforce, all in the name of subsidising job creation.  Nonetheless, the Government will eventually claim…

In previous posts I showed that Irish public services were already grossly underfunded by EU norms and that, using ESRI data, cutting public sector employment will have only a trivial…

There may be all sorts of reasons to cut public services, but reducing the fiscal deficit is not one of them. I repeat: we can cut the number of public…

The Croke Park Agreement’s first annual report found considerable ‘savings’ in expenditure on public services: €289 million was saved on the pay bill due mainly to 5,000 less jobs while…

The issue of wealth in Ireland is certainly hotting up – at least in the Irish Times. Last week we had a strong intervention by Fintan O’Toole, claiming that Ireland…

A rainy Sunday morning; it brings many thoughts – of outdoor activities cancelled, indoor DIY projects advanced, no football and letting Garibaldy go through the Sunday Independent so that we…

You can hear the Ministers brushing up on their variants of TINA – there is no alternative. Ruairí Quinn is leading the way: ‘Education Minister Ruairí Quinn insisted that unless…

Apparently, the Marquis didn’t like the window tax. 'The Marquis of Dowshire presented two petitions [to the House of Lords], one from Dublin, and the other from Belfast, complaining generally…

A couple of cheers for Minister Leo, putting both his feet in the mouth of the Government. In a refreshing dose of realism he stated what everyone knows – we’re…

Cut people’s dole to reduce unemployment – did the people who write these OECD policy prescriptions learn their craft at Krusty’s Clown College? Of course, we’ve run into some curious…

The proposal by the Minister for Enterprise, Richard Bruton – as mooted in the Irish Times report – is cynical in the extreme. Apparently, he wants to remove the ability…

The Restaurant Association of Ireland and Ibec won’t like it. Fine Gael certainly won’t like it. The army of commentators armed only with superficial and out-of-date analysis won’t like it.…

The Government has got itself into a bit of bother over this whole pension levy lark. But the complaints from the pension industry are a bit hard to take. In…