Ireland is incredibly vulnerable to an energy shock. We must cut fossil fuel dependenceGreen transition will help the planet and insulate us from price shocksFri Sept 20 2024 - 06:00
Aerodynamic pricing: Air fares will rise to meet demand this Christmas Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary is right about one thing: The passenger cap at Dublin Airport makes no senseFri Sept 13 2024 - 05:53
Just because Ireland is good for data centres does not mean they are good for usThere should be no more data centres permitted in the coming years, and local authorities are not the right bodies to make the callFri Sept 06 2024 - 06:00
Is the Irish economy growing too fast?The Government may need to slow economic growth if infrastructure can’t keep upFri Aug 30 2024 - 06:00
CSO at 75: How data analysis has evolved to tell us more about ourselves As the Central Statistics Office celebrates its 75th birthday, its reports continue to inform vital economic research and Government policyFri Aug 23 2024 - 05:00
No end to Ireland’s love affair with the bananaPrice caps, a wartime supply freeze and colonial lobbying around the top table have been features of the economics of the fruitFri Aug 16 2024 - 05:00
Private landlords need incentives to retrofit their properties, otherwise it’s not financially worthwhileLower heating bills benefit tenants, not landlords, while rent caps mean they won’t get higher income from letting out cosier homesFri Jul 26 2024 - 06:00
The good news is the real economy is still growing stronglyThe bad news is that critical infrastructure is lagging behindFri Jul 19 2024 - 06:00
Ireland badly needs to invest in infrastructure. That means more taxMuch of the cost of vital water, transport and energy investment falls to the Irish State, and that means more taxFri Jul 12 2024 - 06:00
Will the coming election manifestos tackle economic inequality and poverty? Ireland’s disposable incomes have become so evenly distributed, we now outrank SwedenFri Jul 05 2024 - 06:00
Election budgets are not always giveawaysThere is a long history of governments tightening spending even as an election loomsFri Jun 28 2024 - 06:00
Irish governments largely ignored nationalist discrimination in the North for more than 50 yearsFinal deal to end economic war with the UK held favourable terms for the Republic but took no action on tackling discrimination in the NorthFri Jun 21 2024 - 06:00
EU’s knee-jerk return to national business subsidies could distort the single market in favour of larger statesIreland’s new MEPs must build on good relations with our partners as global trade barriers come back in vogue and climate fatigue sets inFri Jun 14 2024 - 06:10
Housing Commission’s analysis of the crisis paints a mammoth challenge but falls down on one glaring contradictionTargets will require extensive additional investment by State and access to foreign funding, but rent controls pose a problemFri Jun 07 2024 - 05:00
Despite what people may think, taxes in Ireland are low compared to EuropeThe heavy lifting for the State is done by the levy on corporationsFri May 31 2024 - 06:00
The ability of research to affect policy can be a waiting game Ireland’s rampant inflation of the mid-1970s saw research insights rapidly translate to public policyFri May 24 2024 - 06:00
New EU tax on carbon imports could complicate things for RepublicLevy due in 2026 aims to address competitive gap opening between EU and countries which don’t price in climate costs associated with carbon emissionsFri May 17 2024 - 06:00
How does a global pandemic affect birthrates? Ireland saw no reductions in births related to the first pandemic lockdown, but 2021 saw a significant increaseFri May 10 2024 - 06:00
An attempt to buy the next election with a giveaway budget would be a gross miscalculationSpending more money would add to inflation without making us better off, whatever about its effects on voting behaviourFri May 03 2024 - 05:00
The world’s richest countries must invest in effective, cheap technologies to tackle climate change There is a case to encourage European production of strategically important goods to guard against restrictions from other countriesFri Apr 26 2024 - 06:00
We must do more to welcome Irish people returning homeMany returning emigrants are highly skilled and hugely valuable for our economyFri Apr 19 2024 - 06:00
Privatising monopoly public utilities makes no sense Experience in UK and with Eir is that private owners don’t invest in networks but just saddle companies with debt and take dividendsFri Apr 12 2024 - 05:00
There’s no real competition in Irish bankingExodus of foreign-owned banks after the crash has been costly for Ireland's bank customers and bad for the wider economyFri Apr 05 2024 - 05:00
Ireland’s system of rent regulation stifles expansion of accommodation supplyFor a highly mobile young population, house purchase is not always a suitable short-term optionFri Mar 29 2024 - 06:00
Despite all our gains, poverty is still a killerJohn FitzGerald: Children born today can expect to live up to 30 years longer than their great grandparentsFri Mar 22 2024 - 06:00
Farmers need certainty on climate change measures Reducing Ireland’s beef herd makes more sense than a huge reduction in profitable dairy cattleFri Mar 15 2024 - 06:00
We need to do more to tempt people into construction Ireland is at full employment, but building industry now falls in number of Irish workersFri Mar 08 2024 - 06:00
Connectivity key to Ireland’s successful migration storyEU tax on aviation fuel will incentivise airlines to be more environmentally friendly while retaining links with familiesFri Mar 01 2024 - 05:00
Germany has a problem with a rigid constitutional rule that narrowly limits the permissible budget deficitPlaying around with the books won’t get Europe’s biggest economy out of its downturnFri Feb 23 2024 - 06:00
Climate change should be prominent on Northern Ireland Executive agendaCompared to the Republic, Northern Ireland has actually reduced greenhouse gas emissions by almost a quarter since 1990Fri Feb 16 2024 - 06:00
All-island electricity market would cut costs for Irish consumersOfficials on both sides of the Border have been complicit in failure to deliver the necessary but controversial overground interconnectorFri Feb 09 2024 - 05:00
Public sector pay deal looks like a fair compromiseOn the Government side, the agreement will not break the bankFri Feb 02 2024 - 06:00
Look to France for a peek at the green futureFrench study shows economic costs of change to green fuels would be limited, but there will be costsFri Jan 26 2024 - 06:00
We won’t fix the housing shortage without solving the skills shortageIreland doesn’t have enough workers with the skills to turbocharge badly needed constructionFri Jan 19 2024 - 05:00
Irish households will see a real increase in disposable incomes in 2024The Irish economy is a puzzle that takes some unravelling, but despite blips many of the signs are positiveFri Jan 12 2024 - 05:00
Disastrous UK policies teach a valuable lesson on privatising essential servicesPrivatisation can work in competitive markets, but can it preserve public services?Fri Jan 05 2024 - 06:00
Department of Finance’s split personality relies on personal relationsSplitting the finance function of Government into two departments runs the risk of discordant budgetary policyFri Dec 22 2023 - 05:00
Turning aviation green requires the stick of emission chargesBy 2026, aviation will be paying the same substantial price for its carbon emissions as industry rather than its current free passFri Dec 15 2023 - 05:00
How to make Northern Ireland’s economy workStarting point must be a functioning Executive and a working AssemblyFri Dec 08 2023 - 05:00
John FitzGerald: Fiscal implications for a united Ireland are starkTax revenue generated in Northern Ireland goes nowhere near covering the cost of its public servicesFri Dec 01 2023 - 05:45
It’s hard to overstate the European Union’s positive influence on Ireland’s economyJoining the then EEC 50 years ago opened Irish policymakers to a whole new way of thinkingFri Nov 24 2023 - 06:00
Why national income tells us very little about our quality of lifeEurope and the US take very different views on the importance of earnings compared to time off workFri Nov 17 2023 - 06:00
Climate change: Adapting consumer behaviour will be no easy taskJohn FitzGerald: Without good alternatives and appropriate signals, people will not shift their energy use patternsFri Nov 10 2023 - 05:00
Meeting housing needs means redirecting our resources Ireland has devoted too much of our domestic resources to producing what foreigners want rather than what we most need at homeFri Nov 03 2023 - 05:00
We need to prepare for a world of more rain and floodsBuilding major flood defences take years, so investment should begin right awayFri Oct 27 2023 - 06:00
John FitzGerald: Ireland needs strong regulation, but we have too many regulatorsPlanning system needs to take into account national interest and can’t be a Nimby’s charterFri Oct 20 2023 - 06:00
Budgets err slightly on the side of expediency over prudenceWith full employment, we need to divert resources from elsewhere to build the housing the economy needs for further growthFri Oct 13 2023 - 05:00
Global trade means supporting losers, not protecting them at any costSeeking to protect jobs in firms that have failed to adapt to the changing world will have a significant cost for consumers and slow the green transitionFri Oct 06 2023 - 05:00
John FitzGerald: Raising the price of dirty fuels drives investment in greener technologiesCarbon taxes have a critical role to play in avoiding catastrophic climate change but the important thing is how we use that revenueFri Sept 29 2023 - 05:00
US multinationals do not just distort our GDPJohn FitzGerald: Problems arise because the US allows companies to move ownership of intellectual property to a foreign countryFri Sept 22 2023 - 05:00
