With the economic and political fallout from Brexit taking its toll voices have been raised – not surprisingly – to argue against wage increases in the Republic of Ireland. The recent National Economic Dialogue in Dublin was an occasion for such an argument with its proponents claiming to cite data...

Notwithstanding the highly significant events of recent days and the fall out from the recent UK referendum on EU membership this week’s Monday Blog is focussed on personal taxation trends over time in the Republic of Ireland. (Attention will be given to the implications of UK exit from the EU in...

The parameters for Budget 2017 are set by the requirements of the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP). The preventive arm is assessed under two main pillars. These are the Structural Balance Rule and the Expenditure Benchmark Rule. A balanced budget in structural terms is a...

It is that time of year again. Like in the neighbouring island we drive on the left hand side of the road (as a general rule) and have an Annual Big Day (known as Budget Day) when the Minister for Finance announces the budget for the coming year. There is a lead in of many months of discussion in...

In many respects the debate about ‘fiscal space’ is a major turn off for most people as it employs language, terms and concepts that are mechanical, contrived and highly dependent on questionable assumptions. Most policy makers tend to leave the technical details to specialist staff while they get...

Wages is not an easy topic to consider on the first day of the week which happens to be a public holiday and a mixed one weather wise at that in the Republic of Ireland. Wages form the biggest share of household income for most households. Following years of wage freezes or cuts the economy is in a...

On this island we are blessed with an abundance of research organisations and research knowledge coupled with unprecedented access to data sources that we could only have dreamt of a generation ago. Investment in official statistical infrastructure (much of which was prompted by statistical...