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...

Recent debates about politics, water charges, tax cuts and austerity have focussed on the short-term and how we can get out of the economic slump. This is understandable. Now we need a conversation in Ireland about our long-term goal and how the policies and goals of the immediate months ahead...

In a previous Blog ‘ Things you always wanted to know about public finances in Northern Ireland but were afraid to ask ’ (Part 1) I outlined the main components of public spending and receipts. The arrangements for funding and how the UK Government allocates funds are complex. Three factors have...

Chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement contained few new announcements and some decidedly grim long-term trends for the UK economy. There were further details given on pre-announced infrastructural spending on house building, roads and rail in addition to earmarked funding for established...

There are many measures examining differences in various socio-economic characteristics among men and women. In general, women are better educated, healthier, live longer but earn less – factors which in themselves point towards gaps in societal equality for both sexes. Focusing just on income, it...

A roof over your head is a fundamental human need and right. Purchasing or renting a place to live typically takes a big chunk of lifetime earnings or income. It is the biggest single cost facing most workers or households. Recent decades have seen a significant change in the way people live, work...