An economist was once asked to assess the impacts of the French Revolution of 1789 to which she replied 'it is too early to say yet'. Budget 2014 may very well fall into this category. In some ways like an impressionist painting in the Art Gallery the viewer has to stand back and ponder it all. Much...

Having spent 5 years now in the austerity trenches another few hundred yards seems surmountable especially when the casualities are counted as €2.5 billion instead of €3.1 billion in 'fiscal adjustments' (cuts to spending or increases in tax neither of which is nice). But, €2.5 billion is still €2.5...

The share of long-term unemployed in the Republic of Ireland, as a share of total unemployment, has remained stable. Over the past year unemployment has be trending downward due to a combination of job creation, migration, and statistical alterations made by the Central Statistics Office. If the...

One in every five children on the island of Ireland lives in a household with an income below the poverty line. In the Republic, the latest CSO data suggests 18.8% of children live in poverty. In Northern Ireland, 22% of children are in poverty. In both, the trend over time has been one of slow...