Housing and Ireland’s Economic Recovery Housing has been one of a number of issues that has sat at the core of Ireland’s recent economic collapse. The very expensive lessons of recent years must not be lost; excessive house prices were not good news for the economy or society generally. The latest...

The impact of the various austerity measures over recent years has been, and continues to be, felt by families in every corner of the country. Whether it is pay, public services or social welfare; all measures point towards a drop in living standards that has been hard felt. Recent data from the CSO...

The recently released CSO SILC report offers an updated insight into the composition of those living below the poverty line in Ireland. That line equalled €203.50 per week for an individual and €338 per week for a couple in 2012 (the year of the most recent data). Overall 16.5% of the population...

Have you difficulties reading and understanding your telephone bill? How will you fare on the forthcoming Water charges bill if you live in the Republic of Ireland? Today, on the island of Ireland, there are approximately one million adults with serious challenges in relation to reading and the...

On 1st May 2014 the NERI held a labour market conference in association with the UCC School of Economics. The conference included presentations from labour market experts working in academia, public institutions, and the trade unions. The NERI would like to thank all those who took part, and those...

Eurostat – the official Statistical Agency of the European Union measures low pay as ‘ those employees earning two thirds or less of the national median earning ’. In 2010, at 20.7% Ireland (Republic) had the 10thhighest rate of low pay as measured by Eurostat. By contrast, Sweden had a rate of 2.5%...

Long-term unemployment has remained largely stable as a percentage of total unemployment over the past year. As total unemployment has been declining this means the number of long-term unemployed is also decreasing. As the proportion is largely stable it means that the long-term unemployed are not...