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...
Options for Investing in Early Childhood Education in Ireland
External event contribution Presentation to the Conference: A Global Gathering for Early Childhood Dublin, October 17th 2013 Abstract: Children are central to the long-term success of any society and economy; of course they are a lot more than that. However, taking the narrow focus of economic policy and long-term investments...
Low Pay &Low Income: some insights on ‘The Working Poor’
Earlier this year Eurostat, the EU Statistics Agency, released data on the number of low-paid workers in Ireland and across the EU. Their analysis defines low-earnings in relative terms measured as those earning two thirds or less of the national median gross hourly earnings. Median earnings are the...
Monday Blog: Assessing the impact of Budget 2014
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...
Monday Blog: Is it really €2.5 billion ?
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...
NERI Seminar: Wealth Tax - Options for its implementation in the Republic of Ireland
Presentation of Tom McDonnell regarding the implementation of a wealth tax in Ireland. Event details can be found here. The full paper can be found here.
Child Poverty - North &South
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...