Posts by sean

Almost three-quarters of Ireland’s working population would like to retire by age 60 or sooner, according to new research. The latest Retirement Aspirations survey commissioned by pension company Royal London Ireland, shows that four in ten respondents would like to retire by the age of 50 or even sooner if they could. 7% of those…

Taoiseach Micheál Martin will tell US President Donald Trump that there is a “two-way street” of investment between the US and Ireland, as a trade imbalance between the two countries looms over their upcoming bilateral meeting. Mr Trump will host the Taoiseach in the Oval Office of the White House tomorrow as part of the…

Employment fell in the construction sector last month, ending a five-month period of jobs growth. The AIB Ireland Construction PMI report in February shows staffing levels were scaled back midway through the opening quarter of the year. It comes at a time when there are significant concerns over housing output, with CSO figures showing there…

The euro zone economy grew by 0.9% in 2024, revised data showed today, higher than a previous estimate of 0.7%. The EU’s official statistics agency also revised growth for the fourth quarter of 2024 for the second time to 0.2% in the 20-country single currency area, from 0.1% estimated in February. Eurostat in January had…

More than three quarters (78%) of Irish adults are being targeted with scam text messages, emails, phone calls or online content at least once a month, according to new research by the Banking & Payments Federation of Ireland’s FraudSmart initiative. The survey of 1,000 people found mobile phones were the main channel for scam communications,…

More than half a million people are facing travel disruption at German airports today where a 24-hour strike has led to thousands of flight cancellations in a dispute about workers’ pay. The operator of Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, said no passenger flights would depart from there today, with delays and cancellations also possible tomorrow. Of…

The domestic economy grew by a healthy 2.7% last year, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. Gross Domestic Product, which includes the multinationals activity, rose by 1.2% in 2024. Personal spending on goods and services, a key indicator of the domestic economy rose 2.3%, while wages grew by 2.9%. Modified investment…

US President Donald Trump yesterday signed an executive order to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve, a day before meeting with executives from the cryptocurrency industry at the White House. The reserve will be capitalised with bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, the White…

January saw the first year-on-year decline in first-time buyer approval volumes since June 2024, new figures from Banking & Payments Federation Ireland show today. Today’s figures show that a total of 3,395 mortgages were approved in January 2025, down by 5.5% on a monthly basis but up by 4.1% compared to the same time last…

The Government is scenario planning for effects of tariffs being imposed on goods from Ireland by the Trump administration, according to the Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers. He said the planning included looking at the consequences on “businesses, consumers and the broader economy”. Minister Chambers said tariffs “would impose serious costs on Irish citizens…