The Government will be announcing its stimulus plan in the next few days.   This will continue with the announcement of sectoral initiatives under the National Economic Plan to be announced…

David McWilliams makes a provocative argument in his recent article for the Irish Times that ‘Governments can't 'create' jobs, so why do they keep pontificating about it?’.  I respectfully disagree. …

 ‘You follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don't know where the f*** it's gonna take you.’ – Detective…

It is not the biggest issue in the Programme for Government (PfG).   But sometimes small proposals can speak volumes.  So what are we to make of the following commitment in…

Ireland may well find it more difficult to restore the jobs lost during the emergency lockdown than most other high-income countries.  This is due to our over-reliance on sectors that…

It is commonly asserted that we will have to be innovative, coming up with new solutions to the unprecedented challenges we face.  Of course.  The Financial Times’ Martin Sandbu has…

The Sunday Independent headline was certainly dramatic: ‘Reality bites: Watchdog warns on tax hikes and pension age as recession kicks in’ The article featured comments by the Chairperson of the…

The low-paid, the precarious worker, the gig worker and temporary agency worker, the under-employed, the undocumented and the marginalised in the labour market:  these are the women and men we…

The Green Party is currently debating whether to enter government with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.  There are legitimate arguments on all sides of this question.  However, before making a…

The Irish Times headline had a familiar, ominous ring: “We must not forget coronavirus bill will have to be paid someday” Donal Donovan went on: ‘Clearly, the deficit will be…

All manner of pressure is being put on the ‘smaller’ parties – Greens, Labour, Social Democrats – to sign up to a new Fianna Fail-Fine Gael government.  Some of the…

‘New economy’, ‘truly historic’, ‘very substantial change’, ‘more left-wing than Sinn Fein’s election manifesto’, a ‘new relationship between the public and private sector’:  like a film whose best scenes are…

‘The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls.’ (Paul Simon) ‘As I went down in the river to pray, studying about the good ol’…

The Sunday Business Post (paywall) reports that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are discussing various fiscal responses to reboot the economy when the emergency is over. ‘Initiatives such as temporary…

We’re all fiscal expansionists now.   From the fiscal orthodoxy to the radicals of the Left there is one message:  throw money at it, don’t worry about the deficit, do whatever…

Not quite.  But in Portugal the Carnide local authority, a small suburb in Lisbon, is offering a dog walking service for older people who can’t come out due to the…

ISME’s threat to the wage subsidy scheme is irresponsible and cynical.  According to the Irish Times:  ‘An employers’ group threatened to advise its members to ignore the State’s scheme to…

There is now a danger that the economy will suffer deep and long-lasting harm arising from the coronavirus.  Unfortunately (but inevitably), the virus has exposed major flaws in our income…

Just because climate chaos didn’t feature much in in the campaign doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t feature prominently in a Programme for Government.  A Green New Deal is absolutely essential. …

It was a three-way race after all.  As of the time of writing there are still a number of seats to be filled but we have the popular vote. Not…