News

50,000 housing units needed every year to meet demand – report

13th August 2021

Close to 50,000 housing units would have to be built here every year for the coming decades in order to keep up with demand. That’s according to a report on the housing stock carried out for the property industry group, Irish Institutional Property (IIP). It contains an analysis by Trinity College Professor, Ronan Lyons, which…

Read More

Record number of daily contactless payments in June

12th August 2021

2.4 million contactless payments were made every day in June of this year, the highest daily figure on record. New data from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland shows that 73 million contactless payments were made in June, to the value of more than €1.2 billion. This means that June saw the largest daily figure…

Read More

Fixed rates account for bulk of new mortgage arrangements here

12th August 2021

Lenders in the Irish market continued to charge among the highest interest rates on mortgages in June. According to figures from the Central Bank, the average rate on new agreements was 2.74% in the month. That was down 5 basis points from the average in June of 2020 when it stood at just below 2.8%.…

Read More

Household net worth hits new high, savings increase

12th August 2021

Irish household net worth reached a record high of €883bn in the first quarter of this year due to an increase in savings and deposits, according to new data from the Central Bank. The figures show that household savings increased by €1.5bn in the first three months to stand at €7.4bn for the quarter. The…

Read More

Weekly PUP numbers down again ahead of phased payment reduction next month

11th August 2021

The number of people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment this week stood at 157,712 – a drop of around 5,700 on last week. The Department of Social Protection said the weekly payment amounted to €46.7 million. It was the lowest number receiving the payment since the pandemic began with the greatest reduction observed…

Read More

Home care sector facing ‘urgent’ recruitment shortage

11th August 2021

A group representing the home care sector has said it is facing a recruitment crisis and has called on the Government to allow for the hiring of workers from non-EU countries as a matter of urgency. Home and Community Care Ireland said its members are close to reaching full capacity and cannot recruit enough staff…

Read More

Record amount of corporation tax collected last year

11th August 2021

The high proportion of tax revenue coming from corporation tax represents “a significant risk to the public finances,” according to a report published by the Department of Finance today. Last year, corporation tax accounted for 20% of tax revenues compared to an average 12% a decade ago. €11.8 billion was collected in corporation tax last…

Read More

Scarce housing supply highlighted as average rents rise

10th August 2021

Average rents for residential properties rose by 5.6% nationally between April and June, according to the latest quarterly rental report from the website Daft.ie. The report shows rents rising faster outside Dublin and a record low number of properties available for rent. The Daft.ie rental report for the second quarter of this year shows the…

Read More

Covid adjusted jobless rate falls to pandemic-low of 13.5%

10th August 2021

The monthly unemployment rate in July was 6.5%, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. When those on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment are included, the Covid-adjusted unemployment rate was 13.5%. This compares to a Covid-adjusted rate of 16.2% and a traditional unemployment rate of 6.7% in June. 28.6% of those unemployed under…

Read More

Over €30bn spent on social welfare payments last year

10th August 2021

€30.6 billion was spent on social welfare payments last year, an increase of 46% compared to 2019 – according to new figures from the Department of Social Protection. A new report published today sets out data relating to the expenditure, recipients and beneficiaries of the schemes administered by the department, including the schemes introduced as…

Read More