We are getting a lot of frighten-the-horses commentary about our debt:  ‘mountain of debt’, €42,000 of debt per every man, woman and child; one commentator referred to our debt as…

Wage inequality in Ireland is high and rising.  The following charts the gap between the highest and lowest wage earners (the top and bottom 10 percent groups).  It is measured…

The Minister for Social Protection, Regina Doherty, wants to guarantee everyone an adequate minimum income.  Good.  This would entail substantial redistribution to those on the lowest incomes.  Fine.  Hopefully she…

We are now getting crash courses in pro-cyclical and counter-cyclical fiscal strategies.  This has the potential to be more mind-numbing than discussion of fiscal space.  But at the risk of…

Taken together, progressives did not have the best of elections.   There will be more detailed analysis in the days and weeks ahead, so this should be considered a small, opening…

The Finance Minister needs to buy the Taoiseach an abacus.  It would also be helpful if he would brief him on certain economic realities.  For the Taoiseach has been both…

There is a growing interest in reducing the working week – usually expressed as a four-day week.  Numerous ad hoc examples of private and public sector companies and agencies appear…

It was only a matter of time.  Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe brought a new report to Cabinet last week containing estimates of the damage a no-deal Brexit could do to…

In recent days employers have claimed that rising construction wages are a significant contributor to high prices in the residential and infrastructural sectors.  Not only do these claims not hold…

Commentators are increasingly turning to the subject of public sector pay – in large part, to warn against pay increases or increased employment.  In some cases history is being re-written. …

In 2017 the Finnish Government launched a two-year experiment in Universal Basic Income (UBI).  2,000 unemployed people were selected at random and paid an unconditional €560 per month (though, in…

With all the commentary understandably focused on a ‘hard border’ it is easy to forget that even in a soft Brexit, with a satisfactory outcome to the border, the hit…

Colin Murphy has a provocative column in the Sunday Business Post (January 27 – firewalled) about measuring our economy and national well-being.  The traditional measure is GDP.  The traditional yardstick…

Everyone is aware that Irish GDP figures are highly inflated and largely irrelevant.  Ditto for Gross National Income.  That’s why the CSO devised their Modified Gross National Income (or GNI*)…

A brief follow-up to my post on the Far Right's problems with immigration data.  I came in for some criticism for using the citizen / non-citizen measurement rather than the…

The far Right and their allies may not yet be a significant political force in Ireland but they are proliferating on a number of internet platforms, with the constant threat…

Today, just six working days into the New Year, the average remuneration for CEO’s in the top 26 Irish companies (which represent 95 percent of the market value of the…

There can be no doubting the urgency required to address climate change and there’s no doubting Ireland’s sluggish response.  Here is an opportunity for progressives to take the lead on…

In their EU peer group, the Irish low-paid are some of the lowest paid, according to recently published Eurostat data. In the overall economy, Irish employees are paid less than…

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has provided the Left an open goal.  If we shoot, we score.  But first we have to get on the pitch.  And right now the…