Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe will publish the Stability Programme Update later today which will set out new deficit and growth targets for the economy. RTÉ News understands it will project growth of 4.5% in the economy this year, with a budget deficit equal to 4.7% of Gross Domestic Product, but much of this will…

Penalties for employers who intentionally misclassify workers as self-employed, resulting in the loss of PRSI and employment rights entitlements, should be explored by the Department of Social Protection, according to a draft Oireachtas Committee report. The confidential report also recommends exclusion of such employers from government public procurement contracts, targeted inspections, and anti-victimisation legislation for…

Provisional figures from the Central Statistics Office published today show the deficit in the public finances was €18.4 billion last year, which represented 5% of GDP. This is an improvement on the Budget Day forecast deficit of €21.6 billion. The national debt stood last year at €218.2 billion or 59.5% of GDP. This was up…

The Government has reminded employers that all staff should continue to work from home, if possible. As some Level 5 restrictions eased yesterday, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar said employers and staff should remember that there has been no change to the official advice to continue to work from…

The number of people due to receive the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) this week is down 15,776 on last week. 421,373 people will get a total of €125.52m in PUP payments. A further 183,096 were also on the Live Register at the end of March in receipt of other forms of unemployment assistance. The largest…

The chief executive of Insurance Ireland has said she would be “optimistic” that consumers will start to see a reduction in their motor insurance premiums “in the near future”. However, Moyagh Murdock said it will take some time for the actual full benefit to be seen on all policies following judicial review guidelines. Ms Murdock…

Up to 20,000 construction workers will return to work on residential, early-learning and childcare sites around the country today as Covid-19 restrictions ease. But there continues to be frustration within the industry that building work in the remaining parts of the sector that remain stalled cannot yet resume. Much construction activity has been stopped since…

The Department of Social Protection has issued a warning about scam phone calls from people claiming to be department officials. The department said that the call displays a range of numbers, including its own helpline number, which is 1890 800 024. It said that it was not contacting customers or members of the public through…

Construction activity declined for the third month running in March as most building sites remained shuttered due to Covid-19 restrictions. Activity across all sub-sectors fell sharply, according to Ulster Bank’s monthly measure of activity in the sector, but the pace of decline eased somewhat relative to the extreme weakness registered in January and February. The…

New figures show that consumer prices rose at their fastest monthly pace in two years in March to stand at the same level a year earlier, when the Covid-19 pandemic began to hit Ireland. The Central Statistics Office said the 0.8% monthly rise in March was driven by increased energy, housing and transport costs. The…