News

The interest bill on the national debt will fall below €3.5 billion this year, despite an increase in the overall level of debt. This will be less than half the record interest of almost €8 billion paid in 2013. The General Government Debt stood at €219.5 billion at the end of 2020. The average interest…

A new pilot programme for employers to test the effectiveness of a four-day working week for staff with no loss of pay is being launched today. The six-month experiment is being organised by the Four Day Week Ireland campaign, which claims it can deliver positive results for business and work/life balance for employees. “In the…

The Chair of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has said that politicians need to explain how they would afford to build 40,000 houses a year and retain the €4 billion that was put into the health during the pandemic. Sebastian Barnes said the money would have to come from increased taxation or through finding savings…

Younger people are more likely to suffer from financial hardship when Covid-19 State supports are ceased, according to new research published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). In its latest publication, the ESRI also said that the estimated average income loss for households was more than halved as a result of pandemic payments.…

With almost two thirds of those under the age of 25 who are not in education unemployed, the National Youth Council of Ireland is warning that the pandemic could have a ‘scarring effect’ on the career and employment prospects of young people. The Covid adjusted youth unemployment rate stands at 61.8%, with many young people…

Ireland is set to receive the biggest share of the €5 billion EU Brexit fund, after a provisional agreement was reached today. Ireland will get over €1 billion of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR), which is aimed at countries and sectors worst hit by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The Netherlands, France, Germany and…

Sinn Féin is seeking to amend a new piece of legislation it has proposed that aims to cap the interest rate charged by moneylenders. Currently, moneylenders can charge interest of up to 187% or 288% when collection charges are taken account of. The Consumer Credit Bill, proposed by Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman, Pearse Doherty, had…

New figures from the Central Bank show that the number of homeowners in mortgage arrears for more than 90 days fell to 5.2% at the end of March, from 5.3% three months earlier. The number of home mortgage accounts in arrears fell by 2,838 in the first three months of the year, mainly as a…

The food service market here will not return to the levels it was at prior to the Covid-19 pandemic until the end of next year, according to Bord Bia. The Irish food promotion board says that the prolonged lockdown in the first half of this year and gradual reopening has meant the recovery has been…

Small and medium Irish employers are warning that the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is acting as “a significant brake” on returning workers in certain sectors of the economy and should be “tapered” faster than currently planned. Neil McDonnell, the CEO of Irish Small and Medium Enterprises (ISME), told an Oireachtas Committee that this is affecting…