News

A new financial crisis is brewing in the emerging economies and it could hit “with a vengeance”, an influential group of central bankers has warned. Emerging markets such as China are showing the same signs that their economies are overheating as the US and the UK demonstrated before the financial crisis of 2007-08, according to […]

We threw it away. Measures introduced two-and-a-half years ago by the Central Bank to curb runaway property inflation were only ever a temporary stop-gap. The aim was to control prices to buy time to enable the State to fast-track housing development in a market which is now seeing the worst supply levels in a lifetime. […]

Competitiveness concerns in Dublin, allied with the Brexit risk to rural Ireland, present the greatest risk to the economic outlook, according to a report published this morning. The Economic Eye Summer Forecast from financial services firm EY predicts economic growth across the island to be at 2.4pc until the end of the decade, with 91,000 […]

Mortgages are squeezing out cash buyers in large numbers for the first time since the downturn, helping drive house price rises to boom-time levels across swathes of the country. Property prices in at least eight counties are now rising faster than during the boom years, as competition for homes continues to heat up. During the […]

Insurance is one of life’s necessary evils with one-way traffic when it comes to premiums. Now the heads of the two biggest health insurers warn that costs could double over the next decade. Today’s average premium of €1,200 will increase to over €2,400 at the same time as cover for procedures is cut in an […]

British Prime Minister Theresa May last night outlined a “fair” deal to reassure EU citizens about their status post-Brexit, as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar sought to highlight Ireland’s case at his first EU summit. Mrs May, significantly weakened by her humiliating general election result, moved to reassure fellow leaders that her government will protect the rights […]

Minister Paschal Donohoe has warned of possible “capacity constraints” in the labour market if the unemployment numbers continue to drop at the expected rate. While the Government doesn’t expect a situation to arise where there won’t be enough workers to fill available jobs, Mr Donohoe said the scenario is something ministers would have to “reflect […]

The strengthening dollar against the euro means that Dublin – along with its fellow Eurozone members – have fallen down the rankings in terms of most expensive destinations for expatriates to locate to. According to Mercer’s 2017 Cost of Living Survey, Dublin is the 66th most expensive city in the world for expats in terms […]

Labour costs in Ireland are rising at one of the slowest rates in the EU despite the country’s strong economic performance. Ireland is currently the fastest-growing economy in western Europe, yet the latest data from Eurostat shows that wage costs in the country rose by just 1.1pc in the last three months of last year. […]

Ireland is one of the countries “leading the race to the bottom” in the facilitation of global tax avoidance, according to a new report from charity group Oxfam. Oxfam said there “is strong evidence” that Ireland is aiding significant corporate-tax-avoidance schemes for European banks. In a report titled ‘Opening the Vaults’, researchers at Oxfam, in […]