Budget 2013 and onwards: choices and consequences
The Society of Saint Vincent DePaul launched their pre-Budget document entitled 'The Human Face of Austerity' on Thursday October 25th. At the launch I spoke about the choices government have as they compile Budget 2013 and reflected on some of the context and consequences of these choices for...
Austerity isn’t working: A Northern Ireland Perspective
The International Monetary Fund recently admitted that they have, since the beginning of the crisis, grossly underestimated the damage that austerity policies have been doing to the economy. The admission was made in the latest edition of the World Economic Outlook released at their bi-annual...
Austerity isn't working: A Northern Ireland Perspective
The International Monetary Fund recently admitted that they have, since the beginning of the crisis, grossly underestimated the damage that austerity policies have been doing to the economy. The admission was made in the latest edition of the World Economic Outlook released at their bi-annual...
Labour costs in accommodation and food sector below EU15 average
Labour costs in the accommodation and food sector are below the average of western European countries. Labour costs include wages, but also employers PRSI, which is far lower in Ireland than most western European countries. In the latest edition of the NERI's Quarterly Economic Facts, indicator 3.1b...
Alternative Fiscal Pathways
External event contribution Public sector deficit reduction has become an overriding concern and preoccupation of policy-makers across Europe. The situation in many countries is acute given the high level of general government debt and the continuing high level of government deficits half a decade into the current economic...
Working Poor are the largest group experiencing poverty
One in every seven of the Irish population (15.8%) lives on an income which is less than the official poverty line. Given a population of approximately 4.58 million people this implies that almost 725,000 live at risk of poverty. In the latest edition of the NERI's Quarterly Economic Facts document...
Social Protection and Ireland Crisis
External event contribution Given Ireland's current situation, there are real challenges for the current and future shape of our Social Protection model. This presentation, considers where things stand given the current crisis and briefly reviews the challenges that lie ahead in both the short-term and long-term. The paper was...
Three-quarters of earners have incomes below €50,000
Despite its relevance to various public policy issues, information on the levels and distribution of earnings in the Republic of Ireland is limited. Over the next year the NERI plans to address this deficit with research examining incomes and earnings in Ireland based on data from the CSO's Survey...
Article highlights income in Ireland
An article in the current edition of the CPSU's Aontas Magazine by Dr Micheál Collins (NERI) highlights the most recent CSO data on income in Ireland. In particular, the article notes the CSO's findings on the distribution of disposable income - the money households have in their pocket to spend...