Professor Stephany Griffith-Jones gave this year’s annual Dónal Nevin lecture on the future of banking in the EU and in Ireland. The lecture focused on the role a public development bank can play in boosting growth and job creation. Professor Griffith-Jones cited the success of the Kreditanstalt für...

Following 6 years of declining or stagnant living standards many people are wondering what the future holds. The gathering crisis of accommodation and social housing has caught many by surprise. While there has been a welcome pick up in employment and a very modest fall in unemployment these changes...

In somewhat disappointing results (seasonally adjusted) employment grew by only 1,700 jobs in the first quarter of the year. In many ways 2013 can be seen as a blip in terms of job creation as various temporary factors (such as 'The Gathering', self-employed workers moving off Jobseekers Benefit...

The announcement in Dublin, last week, by Government of the establishment of a Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) is a very welcome development. The timescale for its establishment, its mode of operation and delivery and the scale and impact of that delivery will be vital to an...

Despite improvements in the labour market Irish underemployment combined with unemployment is 22.3%. The underemployed figure includes those who are part-time unemployed and those who wish to work but are not actively seeking work. The underemployment rate has been falling more slowly than...

In 2013, unemployment in Germany, at 5.3 per cent, was at its lowest level since reunification. In the same year, Spain’s unemployment rate, 26.4 per cent, was at its highest level since at least the 1960s, before which reliable statistics are more difficult to come by. Austrian unemployment is also...

Recently the Government in the Republic of Ireland issued a White Paper on Universal Health Insurance . In it, the Government states: ‘it has set out an ambitious plan for the most far-reaching and fundamental reform of our health system since the foundation of the State.’ It describes the proposed...