The Dáil has agreed to spend at least another €2.5 billion on health and business supports due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly confirmed that an additional €2bn was required to pay for health services this year, bringing the department’s revised spending estimate for 2020 to almost €20bn. The estimate has increased by upwards of…
Category Archives: News
The country’s unemployment rate, including those receiving temporary Covid-19 jobless benefit, fell to 22.5% at the end of June from 26.1% a month earlier, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show. Today’s monthly unemployment figures reflect the first two stages of the economy’s gradual re-opening. The unemployment rate, which stood at just 4.8% before…
The manufacturing sector returned to growth in June after recovering almost all of the sudden deterioration seen following the coronavirus-related shutdown of most of the economy in March, a survey showed today. The economy here has opened more gradually than much of Europe with large parts of the services sector including hotels, restaurants, hairdressers and…
The downturn in euro zone manufacturing was not as bad as initially thought last month after more economies in the bloc eased restrictions imposed to quell the spread of the coronavirus. Over 10 million people have been infected by the virus globally and more than 500,000 have died. This lead governments to impose lockdowns and force…
A large number of full-time workers in receipt of the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme or Pandemic Unemployment Payment face tax bills of between €150 and €2,828 by the end of the year, Taxback.com has warned. The latest Taxback.com Taxpayer Sentiment Survey revealed that 57% of respondents receiving either payment are not aware that a future…
Lending to euro zone companies continued to surge in May as firms relied heavily on bank credit to stay afloat amid the continent’s coronavirus-related lockdown, data from the European Central Bank showed today. With millions of people in stuck at home and much of the bloc’s economy mothballed, activity came to a standstill in March…
The number of new mortgage approvals in May was nearly 62% lower than the same month last year. According to the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, the decrease was not unexpected given the scale of the lockdown and physical restrictions due to Covid-19. In total 1,879 new mortgages were approved by lenders here in May…
Growth in the Irish economy averaged 5.2% per annum from 2013 to 2018, according to an analysis of new CSO data. In a Special Article for the ESRI, Professor John Fitzgerald describes a measure, called Net National Product, as the best picture of the “economic welfare of those living in Ireland”. For years, the traditional measure of…
A trade union has warned employers of an “industrial war” if they try to renege on pay and pension agreements with workers. It comes after the High Court yesterday deemed legislation allowing for the setting of legally enforceable pay and conditions for workers in various employment sectors to be unconstitutional. The Connect Trade Union, which represents workers…
A survey of hoteliers has found that average national occupancy levels are set to dramatically fall from the highs of over 70% last year to just over 30% this year. Dublin occupancy levels are forecast to be down by half with regional levels down almost 40%. As a result, Dublin hotels expect to be…