Post Troika: Never Waste a Crisis
External event contribution Presentation made at annual ISME conference (8th November 2013).
How did Austerity Affect Ireland?
External event contribution Presentation made to Finnish Delegation (MANDATE offices) Since 2008 the Irish economy suffered a massive fall, with one in every seven jobs being lost. There are two reasons for this. One is the collapse of a banking and construction bubble. The other reason is the effect of austerity. Since 2008...
Monday Blog: Ireland - a place of tax safety and refuge ?
Writing in the Irish Times recently, Feargal O’Rourke head of tax at PwC Ireland declares: ‘What can be said with absolute certainty is that every company within the charge to Irish tax pays tax at 12.5 per cent on their activities – that is a fact.’ (‘ Whatever way you look at it, Ireland is not a...
Monday Blog: Northern Ireland economy
The annual Northern Ireland Economic Conference took place yesterday in Belfast. Typically it is one of the main annual events in Northern Ireland where senior policy makers, academics and business interests gather to debate and consider the major economic issues confronting us. While the balance of...
Monday Blog: A welcome (if modest) increase in employment
The publication, recently, by the Central Statistics Office of results from their Quarterly National Household Survey for the year to June 2013 has provided a welcome respite to the generally negative employment news since the beginning of 2008. Employment is now increasing across most sectors and...
Ireland and Europe's FTT Proposal
In the context of the recent international financial crisis, one principally derived from the reckless speculative behaviour of numerous banking and financial corporations, the long-term hesitancy towards a financial transactions tax (FTT) tax has begun to thaw. Most recently the European Commission...
Positive growth, but no cause for celebration
The UK economy posted its second quarter of positive growth yesterday, and many have heralded the beginning of a long awaited recovery. However, while some growth is better than none, some perspective is needed before one starts popping champagne corks. Firstly, 0.6% can hardly be describes as...
Budget 2014: Some Tax Options
On Saturday last, July 13th, Claiming Our Future held a conference in Corke Park to consider the options and policy choices for Budget 2014. As part of the conference, I presented some options on taxation - my slides are available here. In it I argued that the Budget should focus on growth and...
Revisions to UK GDP Growth
The ONS yesterday released the third estimate of GDP figures for the first quarter of 2013 where growth was revised down from 0.6% to 0.3%. The revisions to recent historical data also erased the "double-dip" recession that was thought to have occurred in in the first quarter of 2012. Growth in 2012...
Monday Blog: We need a change of course and we need it now
While caution is always advisable in examining the latest quarterly data, the release by the Central Statistics Office of the latest quarterly national accounts was something of a wake-up call to those eager for news of a recovery. The Republic of Ireland is in a deep stagnation. The downturn has...