News

The number of people with private health insurance at the end of last year rose by 3% compared to a year earlier. 2.44m customers had health insurance policies at the end of December, representing 47.6% of the population. Total premium income fell slightly over the year and now stands at €2.93bn, as a result of […]

Global natural gas demand is expected to experience slower growth to 2026 after peaking in mature markets such as Europe and North America in 2021, a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today. The IEA’s annual medium-term gas market outlook said global gas demand was on course to increase by an average of […]

A new €250m grant scheme to help small and medium sized businesses with rising costs is set to be announced in today’s budget. The one-off scheme will offer payments to firms based on a percentage of the amount they pay in commercial rates. However, amounts will be capped, with the result that large firms will […]

The Coalition party leaders met until the early hours of this morning to finalise most of the details of tomorrow’s Budget. Some items remain outstanding, however, and there may be further meetings today Ahead of the meeting, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the issues that still needed agreement included tax measures, supports for small businesses and […]

Activity in the construction sector slowed again in September, according to the latest purchasing managers index from BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland. The index stood at 48.6 in the month – below the 50 marker that separates growth from contraction. It makes September the eighth month of the year so far to see a decline […]

The number of insolvencies in the third quarter of the year was up 54% on the same period last year. Between July and September, 185 insolvencies were recorded, compared to 120 during those three months in 2022. But new data from credit risk analyst, CRIFVision-Net, shows that while insolvencies grew during that period, so too […]

The United Nations food agency’s world price index was largely stable in September, as declines in the indices for vegetable oils, dairy and meat offset a surgein sugar and maize prices. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) price index tracks the most globally traded food commodities. It averaged 121.5 points last month against a revised […]

The rising cost of doing business and reduced tourism accommodation supply meant the key tourism month of July wasn’t as strong as hoped, new data from the sector suggests. The latest monthly dashboard from the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) points out that 650,200 international visitors came to this country from abroad during the month. […]

The Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) has said an expansionary Budget next week “makes little economic sense” at this time. This is because it believes the economy is at, or close to, capacity with full employment. The union-backed think tank said that the level of spending outlined in the Government’s Summer Economic Statement will “add […]

A fall in exports and lower consumer spending in the face of higher inflation will lower the growth rate in the economy this year, according to the Economic and Social Research Institute. In its latest Quarterly Bulletin, the think-tank also cautions against any cuts in taxes in the upcoming Budget that go beyond keeping pace […]