Category: Fiscal policy

Covid-19 and Economic Policy

Shana Cohen 19/05/2020

The long-term impact of Covid-19 Three seemingly distinctive trends have emerged from this period: high unemployment rates and financial distress, especially among workers in service industries like hospitality and childcare; perpetuation of longstanding issues for Millennials and younger generations, or the challenge of pursuing linear career …

The EU’s Inane Fiscal Rules are finally relaxed

Paul Sweeney 18/03/2020

At last, the inane Fiscal Rules are to be relaxed. It took the Covid19 crisis to force this action by the EU leadership. In a recent blog I set out …

The Irish fiscal straitjacket

Robert Sweeney 30/10/2019

These are eventful times for the Irish economy. We are told a variety of ‘storm clouds’ have been forming internationally which, it is claimed, …

What next for Irish unemployment policy?

07/06/2019

By Dr Tom Boland and Dr Ray Griffin WUERC, Waterford Institute of Technology Kindly funded through the IRC New Horizons Interdisciplinary Research …

Statistics don’t always tell the truth

Sinead Pembroke 08/05/2018

Today, statistics are major currencies in policy discussions and debates. They are used as weapons by government ministers, politicians and political …

Some Missing Elements in the Pensions Debate

Michelle Maher 19/05/2017

In Ciarán Hancock’s recent (10 May) Irish Times article Time for the Government to Introduce Pension Auto-enrolment, he makes a welcome call for …

Can Special Purpose Vehicles help alleviate the Housing Crisis?

Tom Healy 30/01/2017

A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is a technical term that refers to a wide variety of arrangements where a financial entity is established for a …