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The cost of living and the price of housing are the key issues facing the economy and people’s personal finances, according to a survey by Permanent TSB (PTSB). PTSB published the latest edition of its Reflecting Ireland research series on Friday. The series polls public attitudes each quarter and includes recurring questions about how people…

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe is “optimistic” that progress can be made on the completion of the EU banking union in the coming months, identifying it as “an important priority” for him in his role as president of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers. Mr Donohoe said he was “committed” to fulfilling the mandate…

Women, younger people and the lower paid are strongly in favour of more flexible working arrangements according to a poll carried out on behalf of the Labour Party. In a survey carried out by Ireland Thinks, 71% of respondents agreed that employees who can work remotely should have the right to do so. Some 81%…

A new report from the Central Bank has found that lower income, older and rural households have faced a higher than average increase in the cost of living in recent months. This is because they spend a bigger proportion of their income on heating, energy and transport, all of which have gone up sharply in…

Mortgage approvals fell in January when compared to the previous month, but were higher year-on-year, according to data from the Banking Payments Federation of Ireland. There were 3,621 mortgages approved last month, down 6.1% on December but 7.9% higher than in January 2021. The total value of the month’s approvals stood at €932m, which was…

A new law strengthening consumer rights has been approved by the Government. The Consumer Rights Bill will provide protections over digital goods and services, meaning people will have the same rights over anything they stream or download as they do over a product or service they would buy in a shop. The legislation also cracks…

The State took on an additional €33 billion in debt over the two years of the pandemic, according to a new report from the Department of Finance. The national debt stood at €237 billion at the end of last year. This equates to €47,233 for every person in the country and is described in the…

New analysis shows that the country’s stock of houses available for sale is now at the lowest level on record. The analysis from Sherry FitzGerald shows there were only 14,400 second-hand properties listed for sale nationwide in January. The estate agents said this represents a 6.7% fall over the past twelve months, with over 1,000…

Sinn Féin’s spokesman on finance Pearse Doherty has said the EU’s fiscal rules need to be replaced by “fiscal standards” which would allow for investment in areas like housing as well as the environment. The fiscal rules were suspended during the pandemic but are due to be reintroduced next year. There is currently a broad…

The Irish League of Credit Unions has called on the Minister with Responsibility for Credit Unions, Sean Fleming, to make the necessary regulatory changes to enable credit unions to significantly increase their footprint in the mortgage market. In a statement, the Irish League of Credit Unions said credit unions would like to be in a…