A new 30% tax rate for middle-income earners has not been ruled out, according to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar. Last March, the Fine Gael leader said he had asked the Minister for Finance to examine the viability of a new 30% tax rate for middle-income earners. He told the Institute of International and European Affairs that…

The main retail banks have opened 222,000 personal current accounts so far this year, as customers of Ulster Bank and KBC Bank Ireland begin switching providers ahead of the exit of the two banks from the Irish market. The figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) show more than 55,000 personal accounts were opened…

Inflation across the euro area rose to 8.6% in June, according to an initial estimate by the EU’s statistical agency Eurostat. Its estimate for inflation in Ireland was 9.6%, which is higher than many forecasters had predicted. The Central Statistics Office will publish detailed inflation figures later this month. Looking at the components of the…

The Government has launched a further low cost Covid-19 loan scheme for businesses. The finance will be available to small and medium businesses (SMEs) including farmers, fishers and food businesses. Low cost loans between €25,000 and €1.5 million will be available with terms of one to six years. Credit will be available without security where…

The Government is to publish its Summer Economic Statement later today, which will set out the parameters of the Budget. Last year’s Summer Economic Statement published the parameters of the Coalition’s Budget plans for the next five years. It included a spending rule which would limit increases in public spending to 5% a year to…

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has told the Dáil that the cost-of-living crisis could last for years. Speaking during Leaders’ Questions, Mr Varadkar said that the issue was something people would be “grappling with for months, if not years, ahead”. He added that what he termed the “global inflation crisis” would not end as a result of…

Climate scientists at University College Cork have concluded that a quarter of all the electricity needed by Irish households could be produced by putting solar panels on domestic rooftops. The study examined every rooftop in Ireland using satellite imagery and weather data for the first time. The findings come on the same day that the…

New EU roaming rules for mobile phone users have come into effect after the previous EU Roaming regulation of 2017 ended yesterday. The “Roam-like-at-home” initiative has been extended until 2032 and allows travellers in the European Union and the European Economic Area to call, text and surf the internet abroad without extra charges. The new…

The country may be facing in to a “prolonged period of inflation” according to Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath, who said measures to help with the rising cost of living must be timed wisely to have maximum impact. He was responding to calls from Sinn Féin for an emergency budget amounting to…

nced that it is to begin a phased programme to upgrade its entire 3G service from late 2022. The company said its existing 3G network will be upgraded to a more sustainable 4G and 5G service as part of a nationwide network modernisation programme. According to Vodafone Ireland, data dependency on 3G has significantly reduced…