When journalists arrive at Government Buildings for the launch of the 4-year 'plan' they will have many questions on their mind.  Here's one that should be asked. The Irish economy…

The antger I'm referring to is not about the meltdown in my broadband, my modem, my phone line – which has kept me off-line for the last two weeks. After…

When the CSO’s industrial production numbers were produced there was a sense among some commentary that at least this side of the economic equation is producing plus signs. But they…

The ESRI's Autumn commentary (full commentary available on November 21st) was just one big writedown for 2011. From the three months previous, they revised downwards the following: GDP: from 2.7…

In early 2009 a number of commentators, analysts and economists claimed if we cut public spending, raised general taxes – if we took the pain 'up-front' – then we'd get…

Apologies for being away so long – workload and such.Will be attempting to provide some insight into the issues facing us (IMF receivership, the apocalypse) in more bite-sized contributions. That’s…

The Central Bank projections are out and boy do they make for grim reading. And just when you thought that you might be able to, if not climb out of…

While a nation was parsing the Taoiseach’s metaphorical breathalyser results, the work of providing a clear alternative to his Government’s failed fiscal strategies continued apace. The Community Platform launched its…

The Central Bank Governor, Patrick Honohan, is outraged. In particular, he is outraged that Irish bond spreads are so high, ridiculously high. Don’t the ‘international markets’ realise the dynamism of…

Do not be confused. The Government’s recently announced increase in electricity prices through the Public Service Obligation levy (PSO) is a tax, pure and simple. And it’s a very bad…

Oliver Gilvarry of Dolmen Securities is writing in the Sunday Tribune in a column entitled ‘Straight Talking’. He has a solution to our problems. On his way to this straight-talking…

Strange how some things don’t get into the debate. For instance, the ESRI’s recent Recovery Scenarios judged the Government’s fiscal strategy a failure. It estimated that not only will the…

What would you say if a Government Minister, discussing Budget 2011, came on to a current affairs programme and said the following ‘To increase economic growth, we intend to cut…

Dan O’Brien – who is producing work at the Irish Times at a phenomenal rate – quotes approvingly from the Department of Finance: ‘In formulating policy, the Government took on…

IBEC has just released a ‘report’ (which Finfact’s Michael Hennigan has described as ‘a marketing brochure’) that highlights the Irish economy’s strengths – educated labour force, low-tax regime, falling prices,…

Remember a few months ago, when ICTU proposed postponing the target year for Maastricht compliance to 2017? There was a widespread rending of garments and universal condemnation of this most…

Social Justice Ireland has produced a well-argued proposal for refundable tax credits – a long-standing demand to make the tax system more equitable. In essence, as SJI describes it: ‘A…

Will be taking a short break but will be back next week.  In the meantime – have a read of this and tell me what you think.  It is a…

Ah, a phrase we will be hearing throughout the next few weeks of wonderful, joyous (albeit, Ireland-less) World Cup football. It’s also an apt phrase for the reporting of economic…

Why did I think the Ernst & Young forecasts wouldn’t make big news? Did I really imagine that its key projections on the deficit and employment would provide a sobering…