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The Government has moved to defend its decision to remove annual delivery targets from its latest housing strategy, arguing that rigid yearly numbers can distract from long-term progress. Minister for Housing James Browne said that data on housing completions will still be published each year, but that fixed annual benchmarks are not always the most…

Ireland’s annual inflation rate climbed to 2.9% in October, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office. This marks the highest annual reading since March and represents a slight rise from the 2.7% recorded in September. The CSO figures show that the strongest upward pressure came from Education costs, which increased by 8.4% over…

EU finance ministers have reached political agreement to abolish the long-standing customs duty exemption on low-value goods entering the bloc. At present, items worth less than €150 can be shipped directly to consumers across the EU without attracting import duties, a rule that has become increasingly exploited by high-volume retail platforms such as Temu and…

The United States has brought an end to the longest federal government shutdown in its history after President Donald Trump approved a new funding bill. The legislation passed through the House of Representatives with a narrow majority and followed a week of tense political negotiations in Washington. The measure reinstates funding for key federal programmes,…

The filing window for the latest Local Property Tax cycle has now closed, following a surge in activity from homeowners eager to update their property valuations on time. Revenue reported a sharp increase in submissions on the final day, with more than 18,000 returns completed by midday ahead of today’s 5.30pm cut-off. Homeowners were required…

The Government is preparing to unveil its latest National Housing Plan, a strategy that aims to reshape Ireland’s housing landscape over the next six years. Ministers have described the initiative as an unprecedented investment in housing, although opposition figures remain sceptical about its potential impact. The plan sets out an ambition to deliver 300,000 homes…

The Government will launch its housing plan tomorrow. It will be the fourth in 12 years. The first, called the Social Housing Strategy, was launched by then minister for the environment Alan Kelly in 2014 when the Labour Party was in coalition with Fine Gael. That was followed by Rebuilding Ireland under the then minister…

Market rents in the year to September have risen by 4.3%, according to the latest rental report by Daft.ie. In the third quarter of this year market rents went up by an average of 1.7% , the eighteenth consecutive quarter of rising rents. This means they are now one third higher than their pre-covid levels,…

The surge in corporation tax over recent years means that it now makes up over a quarter of Ireland’s total tax revenue, according to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. The organisation said about three quarters of corporation tax is paid by large US multinationals making Ireland’s public finances particularly exposed to changes in US policies.…

More than 70 AI scientists from around the world have written to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen asking her to retract a statement she made in May that artificial intelligence is expected to approach human reasoning “next year”. The scientists have accused Ms von der Leyen of promoting “AI hype” from tech companies.…