Some context to Welfare Spending
An article appeared in this morning's Belfast Telegraph outlining expenditure on some welfare benefits in Northern Ireland for the latest financial year. The figures were obtained in response to a parliamentary question to the Minister for Social Development and can be found here . The article made...
Monday Blog—Review of 2015 so far
I am on leave for the next few weeks, so this Monday blog recaps on the topics covered over the opening half of the year. An economy that works for the people 13 July Vision Taxation, Social wage, Investment Emigration has taken its toll 6 July Emigration Demography, Young workers, Social capital...
Monday Blog: An economy that works for the people
An economy that works is one that enables workers, their families and communities to not only survive but flourish and prosper in the widest sense that no measure of GDP or income can adequately capture. But, a society is more than the sum of individuals or households and a properly functioning...
Monday Blog: Emigration has taken its toll
Significant progress has been made in reducing the overall rate of unemployment in the Republic of Ireland since 2012 when it peaked at one in seven in the workforce. Still, the overall rate remains close to one in ten and is double that in the case of persons under the age of 26. As in previous...
Monday Blog: First principle: Do no harm
On Thursday of this week just as half a million children at primary school begin their summer holidays many thousands of children in families with one parent face a drop in family income - a sharp drop in some cases by as much as €140 per week. Just at a time when working parents are under severe...
Tax Increases Since the Bailout: the facts
The Taoiseach Enda Kenny, speaking in Brussels on Thursday, mentioned the following in the context of the ongoing negotiations regarding a debt/bailout deal for Greece: “I pointed out at the EPP that in Ireland’s case we did not increase income tax; we did not increase VAT; we did not increase PRSI...
Monday Blog: TTIP in trouble
Last week an unprecedented even took place in the European Parliament. Following months of complex negotiation between the European Commission – on behalf of European Union Member States – and the United States of America a resolution to the Parliament to be discussed and voted upon last Wednesday...
Monday Blog: Wages on the rise after 7 years of stagnation.
As data filter through every three months from the Central Statistics Office it is clear that wages are recovering slowly across most sectors of the economy. The adjustment of the labour market over a period of 7 to 8 years since the crash of 2008 is, and will be, the subject of research – did wages...
Reforming the EU Corporate Tax System
Last week a delegation from the European Commission (the TAXE committee) visited Dublin as part of their work examining the structure of the EU corporate taxation system and the reforms it requires. As somebody who researches various taxation issues, and as a former member of the Commission on...
Monday Blog: All islands economy
The development of closer economic ties between both parts of Ireland has been a feature of growing European integration as well as the establishment of a ‘peace dividend’ following the Good Friday agreement of 1998. While much research work has been undertaken in relation to cross-border and all...