Ireland’s national debt: it hasn’t gone away, you knowVery high existing levels of national debt create vulnerabilities for the years ahead and must be taken into account for planningThu Feb 22 2024 - 11:08
The tax windfall has paid for the Children’s Hospital - but will it last long enough to pay for Dublin’s metro?Ireland needs to invest massively – in housing, infrastructure, public transport, climate change. But as the public finances tighten this will require better delivery and tough decisionsSun Feb 18 2024 - 07:15
Will Generation Z be better off than their parents?Smart Money: Chances are they will be, but a lot of things have to go their wayThu Feb 15 2024 - 11:37
Power and water are the two threats to Irish competitiveness that no one is talking aboutRed flags are being raised about the Republic’s ability to provide basic services to large employersSun Feb 11 2024 - 07:00
Cliff Taylor: Ireland's escalating rental crisis laid bare by new dataAffordability remains an issue across most of the Irish rental market where almost one-in-three new tenancies command a rent of over €2,000 a monthThu Feb 08 2024 - 13:46
Northern Ireland has a chance to insulate itself from the madness of Brexit - the DUP deal puts this at riskLast week’s DUP deal underlines the North’s links to the British market and casts doubts on its willingness to follow EU rules - this puts a big opportunity at riskSun Feb 04 2024 - 07:00
Seven reasons public servants should grasp the pay deal with both handsAs public sector union members prepare to vote on the new agreement, here is why they should accept the terms offeredThu Feb 01 2024 - 11:29
What is in the new post-Brexit trade plan aimed at breaking the Stormont deadlock?Deal will end routine checks on goods, food products and animals crossing from Britain into Northern IrelandWed Jan 31 2024 - 15:50
What is the Irish Sea border and how might it change under deal between DUP and UK government?Despite changes to Brexit deal under the Windsor Framework, the DUP said the ‘border in the Irish Sea’ was splitting the UK market and was unacceptable to themTue Jan 30 2024 - 17:43
The DUP’s decision: what has the UK offered to try to restart Stormont?Unionists need to decide whether latest compromise is acceptable, while Rishi Sunak, like Theresa May before him, risks incurring the wrath of the hard Brexit wing of his partyMon Jan 29 2024 - 13:51
Are first-time buyers now financially exposed in the market for new homes?State supports like the Help-to Buy and First Home schemes are helping people buy their first home, but there can be risks here for buyersSat Jan 27 2024 - 07:05
If people are buying with their cards, why do they still want to keep cash?We have steadily been moving to online shopping and digital payments, but cash continues to circulate widelyThu Jan 25 2024 - 11:57
Ireland’s budget watchdog accuses Government of pay proposals that would weaken its positionIfac comments follow tensions about the budgetary watchdog’s criticism of the October budgetWed Jan 24 2024 - 17:58
The wave of restaurant closures may only be the start of itGovernment policies are piling extra costs on Irish companies, adding to problems post-Covid - domestic businesses are facing a difficult 2024Sun Jan 21 2024 - 07:00
Interest rates are coming down in 2024- what does this mean for first-time buyers?Despite the warnings from the IMF and ECB, rates are only going one way. New entrants to the housing market need to carefully assess their optionsThu Jan 18 2024 - 11:31
Can the comfortable classes in the public sector make the case for a better pay deal?There could hardly be a worse time, from the Government’s perpsective, to try to do a public sector pay deal. The surge in taxes has created a mood that pretty much anything can be affordedSat Jan 13 2024 - 07:00
Pensions: Pre-2013 public servants have the golden ticket while younger employees pay the price of reformsThe vast bulk of employees in the private sector will retire on much lesser terms than their public sector equivalentsThu Jan 11 2024 - 12:12
Sinn Féin is right to want Irish house prices to fall. But it is easier said than doneThe party’s politics works by setting ‘outsiders’ against home-owning ‘insiders’. But fixes demand complex trade-offsSun Jan 07 2024 - 07:00
Five essential things to watch when managing your money in 2024Cliff Taylor: Here are the things that will influence your personal finances this year, what you need to watch - and what you need to doThu Jan 04 2024 - 12:22
Former PwC boss Feargal O’Rourke named IDA Ireland chairman Career as tax adviser to multinational clients ensures familiarity with challenges securing future foreign direct investmentTue Jan 02 2024 - 15:30
Corporate tax take likely to evolve from win-win of recent yearsAn increasingly mature multinational sector, our reliance on a few big companies and changes in global tax rules will all affect future tax revenuesMon Jan 01 2024 - 06:00
As 2023 drew to a close, something important happenedThe financial markets gambled — and bet heavily — against the mantra from the central banks that interest rates will have to stay ‘higher for longer’ to reduce inflation. What if they’re wrong?Sat Dec 30 2023 - 07:00
Has the Galway hotel fire lit a match under the culture wars?Ireland has thrived from its openness. If this changes it will be hugely costlySat Dec 23 2023 - 07:00
What would it take for Dublin house prices to fall to €300,000?Faced with a housing crisis, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald says she would like to see a drop to this price levelWed Dec 20 2023 - 15:05
We were promised 15-minute cities. Instead we got 90-minute commutesHousing policy is being set by the older generation, who are generally living in their own homesSat Dec 16 2023 - 07:00
Interest rate cuts are coming in 2024 – what does this mean for your mortgage?A lot depends on which type of loan you hold and how much remains on your balanceThu Dec 14 2023 - 10:17
The ups and downs of corporate tax payments – what’s going on? Why are they so unpredictable? After three months of weak returns, ministers breathed a sigh of relief thanks to a bumper return for NovemberSat Dec 09 2023 - 07:30
Cliff Taylor: Ireland is facing a battle between politics and prudence next yearPolitics versus prudence will be a big clash next year : after several Big Mac budgets, can the Coalition really offer voters a hamburger?Sat Dec 09 2023 - 07:00
Our multinational economy cruises in the fast lane but the domestic one is definitely slowing downThe old story of the Republic’s two-tier economy is alive and wellThu Dec 07 2023 - 12:18
Political horse-trading looms if Paschal Donohoe goes for IMF jobTo horror of FG and FF, key role at top of International Monetary Fund appears to be of interest to Minister for Public ExpenditureTue Dec 05 2023 - 05:00
Donohoe would face intense political fight for top IMF jobUnder a longstanding agreement a European gets the IMF managing director job and an American heads the World BankMon Dec 04 2023 - 19:00
Too few gardaí on the streets? Wait until you hear about builders, medics, teachers, planners, bus drivers Ireland is risking an abundance of private opulence and public squalorSat Dec 02 2023 - 07:00
The slightly rich pay their taxes these days, but what about the super rich?How we view our tax obligations has evolved greatly since the murky days of the 1980sThu Nov 30 2023 - 13:13
Ireland’s progress has been driven by openness - to trade and to immigration Non-nationals filled half of the additional jobs created over the past year, allowing the jobs market to surge to a new highSun Nov 26 2023 - 07:30
Post-Brexit, the UK’s different economic direction to the Republic is underlined State investment will be hit as our neighbours opt for the optics of tax cutsThu Nov 23 2023 - 11:40
Ben Dunne: Without Florida arrest, would underbelly of business and political life in Ireland have been revealed?Dunne’s cocaine-fuelled episode set off a chain of events which were to shock the Irish public through work of two tribunals of inquiry and the uncovering of offshore accounts in the Cayman IslandsSun Nov 19 2023 - 11:45
With economic signals flashing amber, the next Irish general election might be sooner than we thoughtThe economy is slowing and tax revenues are under pressure - the odds on Ireland going to the polls in the first half of 2024 are risingSun Nov 19 2023 - 07:00
Households are better off, but many people are not ‘feeling it’ - here’s whyCSO data shows a rise in the disposable income of households since 2016 – though not all will have benefitedThu Nov 16 2023 - 10:57
Ireland may yet get €13bn from Apple - but for now the State is back in the firing lineTax is contested territory internationally and the Apple case ,together with huge revenues from big multinationals, means Ireland will remain in the spotlightSat Nov 11 2023 - 07:00
Why does the Government not want the €13bn in back taxes from Apple?Apple tax case: State policy has traditionally aligned with big multinationals here given our reliance on them for valuable jobsThu Nov 09 2023 - 17:35
Ireland’s dangerous reliance on gas risks future price spikes for households As a country we depend on natural gas imports, putting us at the mercy of notoriously volatile global price changesThu Nov 09 2023 - 11:47
Sinn Féin would hike taxes on the better off. Is that good or bad for the economy?In government, the party will hit a small number of already-heavily-taxed higher earners hardSat Nov 04 2023 - 06:00
Are tracker mortgage rates now set to fall sooner than had been expected?Interest rate hikes: ECB’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged this month may signal we have reached the peakThu Nov 02 2023 - 11:45
First-time buyers dominating the housing market and keeping new home prices on the rise - for now Developers had warned that higher interest rates, rising costs and a shortage of builders would lead to a fall-off in building this year, but they hadn’t banked on Government measures underwriting demandSun Oct 29 2023 - 07:00
State is right back in the global spotlight over corporation taxGovernment will have hoped that signing up for OECD tax deal would take the heat off – but the surging revenues of recent years are getting more and more attentionThu Oct 26 2023 - 13:14
Central bank governor moves to reassure banks on digital euroGabriel Makhlouf says key industry and data privacy concerns will be addressed before any digital currency launchMon Oct 23 2023 - 06:00
Ireland can no longer afford to ignore long-term planning on health spendingLonger-term plans tend not to be popular in Irish politics because they force decisions to be made - like how to pay for them. But it can’t be avoided anymoreSat Oct 21 2023 - 06:00
Mortgage holders seeking new tax relief must file tax return to RevenueFinance Bill gives details of the once-off measure as well as outlining how new tax credit for landlords will workThu Oct 19 2023 - 16:54
The digital euro is coming but how will it be different from Revolut?A digital version of the single currency would see euros being carried in a wallet on your smartphoneThu Oct 19 2023 - 13:02
Did the settled generation of over-45 homeowners really need mortgage interest relief? Squeezed renters and younger first-time buyers, already under financial pressure, are likely to feel a bit miffed about this budget measureSat Oct 14 2023 - 06:30
