2015 looks set to be a year when those at the bottom of the earnings distribution receive increased attention. Government will shortly establish a low pay commission which will (among other things) review the minimum wage. Later this month the CSO will provide new data on incomes and earnings (SILC)...

Overcrowded A&E, lack of nursing home places, seasonal factors, under-investment in community health, emergencies in public mental health services, large classes, limited public childcare supports, limited public transport, rural areas under pressure, homelessness growing visibly on the streets...

As a new year beckons it is time to take stock. Following a winter of civic protests and what is hopefully the beginning of the end of fiscal austerity (for now), hopes have lifted and recovery seems to be around the corner - at least for some. But, nobody can be sure what lies ahead - politically...

The year draws to a close and a new year begins. The Nevin Economic Research Institute was established in 2012 with the support of 24 trade unions in Ireland. Since its establishment the Institute has published a large number of research working papers and other material which can be viewed on this...

Economics may be viewed as a dismal science but what do you make of the following biblical passage: ‘Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away’ (Psalm 90:10). Economists might sense...

Judged in an international context, Ireland is a high income country. The 2014 United Nations Human Development Report ranks Ireland as having the 28th highest gross national income per person in the world – with an average income at almost two and a half times the world average. Data from the...

Flat lining of GDP, water charges in the Republic, off and on balance sheets, Stormont talks stalling, tax cuts, USC, corporate taxes, double-Irish, knowledge boxes, regressive budgets, more tax cuts and Christmas is approaching fast. What’s missing from public discourse? You would never guess –...

The latest NERI seminar, Some Lessons from the Crisis: Spatial Justice, Uneven Development and Future Choices, was held yesterday in the INTO Learning Centre. Gerry Kearns (professor of geography, Maynooth University) and David Meredith (senior research officer, Teagasc) outlined a concern that, as...