Uncategorized

Provisional figures from the Central Statistics Office published today show the deficit in the public finances was €18.4 billion last year, which represented 5% of GDP. This is an improvement on the Budget Day forecast deficit of €21.6 billion. The national debt stood last year at €218.2 billion or 59.5% of GDP. This was up…

Penalties for employers who intentionally misclassify workers as self-employed, resulting in the loss of PRSI and employment rights entitlements, should be explored by the Department of Social Protection, according to a draft Oireachtas Committee report. The confidential report also recommends exclusion of such employers from government public procurement contracts, targeted inspections, and anti-victimisation legislation for…

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe will publish the Stability Programme Update later today which will set out new deficit and growth targets for the economy. RTÉ News understands it will project growth of 4.5% in the economy this year, with a budget deficit equal to 4.7% of Gross Domestic Product, but much of this will…

The chief executive of Insurance Ireland has said she would be “optimistic” that consumers will start to see a reduction in their motor insurance premiums “in the near future”. However, Moyagh Murdock said it will take some time for the actual full benefit to be seen on all policies following judicial review guidelines. Ms Murdock…

The number of people due to receive the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) this week is down 15,776 on last week. 421,373 people will get a total of €125.52m in PUP payments. A further 183,096 were also on the Live Register at the end of March in receipt of other forms of unemployment assistance. The largest…

The Government has reminded employers that all staff should continue to work from home, if possible. As some Level 5 restrictions eased yesterday, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar said employers and staff should remember that there has been no change to the official advice to continue to work from…

The Department of Social Protection has issued a warning about scam phone calls from people claiming to be department officials. The department said that the call displays a range of numbers, including its own helpline number, which is 1890 800 024. It said that it was not contacting customers or members of the public through…

Up to 20,000 construction workers will return to work on residential, early-learning and childcare sites around the country today as Covid-19 restrictions ease. But there continues to be frustration within the industry that building work in the remaining parts of the sector that remain stalled cannot yet resume. Much construction activity has been stopped since…

Construction activity declined for the third month running in March as most building sites remained shuttered due to Covid-19 restrictions. Activity across all sub-sectors fell sharply, according to Ulster Bank’s monthly measure of activity in the sector, but the pace of decline eased somewhat relative to the extreme weakness registered in January and February. The…

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has thrown the weight of the US government behind a push for a global corporate minimum tax rate, possibly carving a path to a long-sought deal updating international tax rules for the first time in a generation.  Yellen said this week that she is working with G20 countries to agree…