News

This time last year, energy prices were just starting to recover from the record lows reached in the weeks before. Worldwide lockdowns at the onset of the pandemic saw international trade practically grinding to a halt. Economists and analysts were predicting the most severe downturn since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Oil prices in […]

The first in-person meeting of the G7 countries since the start of the pandemic takes place in London today. Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe will attend the two-day meeting in his capacity as President of the Eurogroup – the collective term for informal meetings of the finance ministers of the eurozone. He said ministers are […]

Confidence among small business owners has notably improved, according to a new report from the Small Firms Association (SFA). The latest Small Business Sentiment survey shows that over half of SFA members feel that the business environment is improving, compared with just 35% last summer. “Despite the challenges faced by our small business community in […]

Euro zone business activity surged in May as the easing of some coronavirus related restrictions injected life into the bloc’s dominant services industry, a survey showed, echoing data today which showed factories had their best month on record. An acceleration of vaccine programmes across the region and a fall in reported daily cases has allowed […]

Ireland should borrow more to invest in housing and could borrow an additional €4bn to €7bn a year, according to a new analysis by the Economic and Social Research Institute. It comes as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the suspension of Europe’s fiscal rules on government borrowing and sparked a debate over how much countries […]

The European Central Bank will not change the total size of its asset purchase programme at its June 10 meeting but will start tapering its pandemic purchases later this year, according to a Reuters poll which also showed inflation risks to the upside. With an economic recovery underway and price pressures rising, calls for winding […]

Activity in the services sector expanded at the fastest pace in over five years in May, according to AIB. Its latest Purchasing Managers’ Index, a month-on-month check-up on conditions in the sector, pointed to a marked pick up in growth as pent-up demand was released with the loosening of pandemic restrictions. The services sector accounts […]

Hotels, B&Bs, self-catering accommodation and hostels can reopen from today, as the gradual lifting of Covid-19 restrictions on the tourism and hospitality sector begins. However, services including leisure facilities, as well as indoor restaurants and bars, are restricted to residents only. Around 65,000 people were employed by hotels pre-pandemic, with 270,000 employed in the wider […]

The Cabinet has agreed that owners of new homes built since 2013 will now have to pay Local Property Tax. It follows a decision taken at a meeting to finalise the new €3.5 billion Economic Recovery Plan. Taoiseach Micheál Martin, alongside Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan announced the Government’s plan, which […]