One can only chuckle. Last year the pronouncements of rating agencies were treated as though they were written on Mount Sinai. Downgrades, or the threat of such, were interpreted by our high priests of deflation as demands to cut public spending. That’s what we did - big time; slashing public spending by nearly €9 billion [...]

There have been some outrageous and hilarious things said in this economic debate. I don’t know how economic historians will come to rank them. But surely at the top must be the claim that the rich have paid a ‘far higher price’ than other groups in society as a result of the economic downturn. You [...]

The Central Bank Governor, Patrick Honohan, is outraged. In particular, he is outraged that Irish bond spreads are so high, ridiculously high. Don’t the ‘international markets‘ realise the dynamism of our export sectors, the budgetary and tax reforms, the pain we have suffered to get our public finances under control? Why are they still doing [...]

Do not be confused. The Government’s recently announced increase in electricity prices through the Public Service Obligation levy (PSO) is a tax, pure and simple. And it’s a very bad tax.
The PSO levy subsidises electricity suppliers who are required to purchase electricity from renewable and peat-generated sources. This is because the costs of electricity from [...]

Fair dues to the Government. They take old news, an old set of policy projections, repackage it with a shiny new bow, and launch a fresh programme - which is presented as a stimulus and investment-driven job creation programme. And a lot of folk go along with it (though some like Miriam Lord sees the [...]

What would you say if a Government Minister, discussing Budget 2011, came on to a current affairs programme and said the following:
‘To increase economic growth, we intend to cut growth. To promote employment, we’re going to cut employment. And as for emigration - we don’t care if it increases. Indeed, the Government sees some upside.’ [...]

Dan O’Brien - who is producing work at the Irish Times at a phenomenal rate - quotes approvingly from the Department of Finance:
‘In formulating policy, the Government took on board evidence from international organisations, such as the EU Commission, the OECD and the IMF, as well as the relevant economic literature which indicates that consolidation [...]

Brian Keegan from the Chartered Accountants Ireland says that finding €500 million in tax revenue for Budget 2011 will be ‘very difficult to find’. There are no easy choices, he writes in the Sunday Business Post. He does flesh out two ideas - a flat-rate property tax which could raise €500 million and a reduction [...]

IBEC has just released a ‘report’ (which Finfact’s Michael Hennigan has described as ‘a marketing brochure’) that highlights the Irish economy’s strengths – educated labour force, low-tax regime, falling prices, etc. They probably released this as an antidote to their previous economic commentary which revised downwards key domestic indicators (GNP, investment, etc.). So, it was [...]

Remember a few months ago, when ICTU proposed postponing the target year for Maastricht compliance to 2017? There was a widespread rending of garments and universal condemnation of this most irresponsible and reckless proposition. I recall an interview with our erstwhile Minister O’Dea who went apoplectic at the idea predicting economic Armageddon and the wrath [...]