Targeted investment in infrastructure can demonstrably deliver social inclusion and bridge the remaining gaps in an otherwise healthy economy. Can the Government listen to this advice in an election year?
Small businesses across the country are facing an existential crisis on many fronts, including state-induced higher costs. Modelling the latest Government announcements on PRSI and grants shows they don't go far enough.
The first quarter saw trade pick up in some sectors and slow down in others. Declining inflation is welcome, but company failures are on the rise.
Government policies driving up labour costs provide welcome levelling up for vulnerable workers. When small businesses can’t afford them, the State could simply pick up the tab.
By tilting to the right, Simon Harris wants to undercut the temptation of more radical votes. There will be help for farmers and small businesses but to really address voter anger, the new taoiseach will need to confront housing.
Changes to Apple’s tax structure have skewed short-term Exchequer figures for three years but multinationals are again lining up large taxable profits in Ireland in 2024.
It is many years since the country’s economic indicators have looked so well and the new Taoiseach will have a lot of tailwinds going his way. How should he use them?
Progress is part of the narrative that politicians use to gain power. When they share data which shows that things have been getting better people’s anxieties about the world decrease. But for some reason, politicians are not doing enough of this.
The Irish economy contracted in 2023. Did you feel it? Very likely you didn’t. Why is that? More importantly, what should we do about it? We should innovate.
The country is in good shape. We’re better off than most of the nations around us and many aspects of our lives and businesses are the envy of our European neighbours. We’ve never had it so good, but we can still make a mess of it.
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