News

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 […]

The Government will unveil its Economic Recovery Plan later today, which is expected to lay out a roadmap for the economy as it emerges from the impact of Covid-19. There will be many different aspects to today’s Recovery Plan. Much attention will be focused on the detail of the planned withdrawal of the Pandemic Unemployment […]

New figures show that the number of mortgages approved were up 0.9% in April on a monthly basis, while they rose by over 98% compared with the same time last year. Banking & Payments Federation Ireland said a total of 4,362 mortgages were approved in April. First-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 54.8% of the […]

The Government looks set to begin reducing the Pandemic Unemployment Payment by €50 a week from September. It’s understood that Cabinet will consider reducing the PUP by €50 from the middle of September, with a further €50 cut set for mid November before the final €50 reduction in February next year. The Government will also […]