A third of workers have no cover outside of State pension
68% of workers aged between 20 and 69 have some form of pension cover outside of the State pension, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show. The number of people taking out a pension increases with age, according to the data. Just 33% of those aged between 20 to 24 had supplementary cover between […]
ESRI estimates strong MDD growth of 3.7% in December
A new estimate suggests that the domestic economy here grew reasonably strongly in December, despite challenging conditions. The “Nowcast”, produced by the Economic and Social Research Institute, predicts that Modified Domestic Demand (MDD) expanded by 3.7% in the month. That is up from 2.5% estimated for November. MDD is a measure of domestic economic activity […]
Consumer sentiment dips in February after January bounce
Consumer sentiment fell again in February, undoing some of the gains it made a month earlier. The Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to 70.2 in the month, down from 74.2 in January. The research’s author, Austin Hughes, said the dip in sentiment is not surprising as the gain in January was significant, but most […]
WTO meets with calls for consensus amid geopolitical tensions
The World Trade Organization today opened a high-level ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi with calls for consensus as geopolitical tensions and the looming US election undermine chances of a major breakthrough. The WTO’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13), scheduled to run until Thursday in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is the first […]
Thousands facing mortgage bill hike as fixed terms end
While tracker and variable mortgage customers have borne the brunt of the European Central Bank’s interest rate raising programme, those who managed to fix at the right time have remained largely insulated from its historically high interest rates. According to the Central Bank, Irish banks’ fixed mortgage customer were enjoying an average interest rate of […]
Vast majority of Irish tech start-ups embracing AI – survey
The vast majority of Irish tech start-up and scaling companies are deploying or preparing to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) according to a new survey. The research from Scale Ireland also shows that finance is still the biggest challenge facing indigenous founders. The 2024 State of Start-ups Survey reveals that 82% of respondents are deploying or […]
Ireland’s national debt stands at €42,000 per capita
Ireland’s national debt continued to fall last year but remains one of the highest in the world at €42,000 per capita, the Department of Finance’s report on public debt shows. Only Japan, Belgium and Italy have higher levels of borrowings per person. The country’s gross public debt stood at €223 billion in 2023 down from […]
Location for EU Anti-Money Laundering Agency to be decided
The competition to select a city to host the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Agency (AMLA) will get underway in Brussels today, with Dublin in contention along with eight other cities. Ireland is competing against eight other member states – France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania and Austria – to host the agency, which would […]
Lower income households disproportionately hit by effects of indirect taxes
Lower income households are disproportionately hit by the effects of indirect taxes like VAT and carbon taxes when compared to those with higher incomes, a new analysis has found. The findings from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) report show that on average Irish households pay €151 per week in indirect taxes. Overall, this amounts to […]
Credit Unions report mortgage lending up 15%
Mortgage lending at credit unions was up 15% in the last three months of the year, with the mortgage book now over €500m for the first time. The Irish League of Credit Unions represents 92% of the total active credit unions here. Its quarterly results show an overall increase in lending across all areas of […]
Big jump in cyber-attacks using stolen identities – IBM
There has been a 71% global spike in cyber-attacks involving stolen identities according to IBM. Its latest X-Force Threat Intelligence Index found there was a growing trend in 2023 of cyber-criminals logging into corporate networks using stolen credentials as opposed to hacking into systems. The report is based on insights and observations from monitoring over […]
Faulty goods, services cost nearly €1bn last year – CCPC
The cost to consumers in Ireland to deal with faulty goods and services last year was close to €1 billion, according to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). The commission calculated the figure based on initial financial outlays by consumers, additional charges added on, and the inconvenience of resolving problems. The CCPC is charged […]
New online safety rules come into force across EU
The European Union’s new online safety rules come into full force today in Ireland and across the EU. The Digital Services Act requires online platforms to do more when it comes to removing harmful content and tackling the spread of disinformation. Companies face fines of up to 6% of global turnover for violating the rules […]
Increase in SMEs’ interest in green supports – survey
A new report shows the level of small and medium-sized businesses who are interested in grants to help them invest in sustainable measures increased by over 40% in the past year. Uisce Éireann’s latest SME Sustainability Sentiment Survey also reveals that more than a third of SMEs see the availability of grants to offset the […]
Ireland to assume new EU online safety powers from tomorrow
Ireland’s media regulator Coimisiún na Meán has said it is ready to assume new EU online safety powers from tomorrow. It has been tasked with enforcing the Digital Services Act (DSA) in Ireland. All EU member states are required to have designated a ‘Digitial Services Coordinator’ by 17 February to implement the DSA in their […]
Inflation slows to 4.1% in January from 4.6% in December – CSO
The annual rate of inflation fell to 4.1% in the 12 months to January from 4.6% in December, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show today. This marks the third consecutive month where the inflation rate was lower than 5%. The CSO figures also show that inflation – as measured by the Harmonised Index […]
European Commission cuts Irish growth forecasts to 1.2% from 3%
The European Commission has today revised down its expectations for the performance of the Irish economy in its Winter 2024 Economic Forecast, which was published today. The Commission said that Ireland’s GDP growth outlook for this year has been adjusted “substantially” lower to 1.2% from an estimate of 3% in its Autumn Forecast In 2025, […]
Germany overtakes Japan as world’s third-biggest economy
Once forecast to become the world’s biggest economy, Japan slipped below Germany last year to fourth place, official data showed today, although India is projected to leapfrog both later this decade. Despite growing 1.9%, Japan’s nominal 2023 gross domestic product in dollar terms was $4.2 trillion, government data showed, compared with $4.5 trillion for Germany, […]