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Ireland’s infrastructure is lagging 25% behind that of high-income European economies, according to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. In a new report the spending watchdog said housing, health, transport and electricity all require investment. The fiscal council estimated 68,500 homes need to be built a year to catch up and meet a growing population. That…

Euro zone inflation is “well on track” to hit the European Central Bank’s 2% target next year, ECB President Christine Lagarde said today, repeating the bank’s most recent guidance. “The incoming information on inflation shows that the disinflation process is well on track,” Lagarde said at the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting in Washington. “Recent…

There was a “small bounce” in consumer sentiment in October, but little sense that consumers think Budget 2025 will dramatically improve the outlook for their household finances. That is according to the latest Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Index. The survey, conducted in partnership with Core Research, shows an index reading of 74.1 for October, marking…

Strong demand from first-time buyers (FTB) and switching activity drove an increase in both the volume and value of mortgage drawdowns in the third quarter. A total of 11,774 new mortgages worth €3.4bn were drawn down by borrowers during the period, according to the latest figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI). In…

More moderate growth is expected in the coming years as the economy and labour market reach full capacity, according to AIB’s Economic Outlook. It forecasts modified domestic demand (MDD) to grow by 2.8% next year and 2.7% in 2026. The report finds that, following a fall in GDP in 2023 due to a downturn in…

A total of 635 million plastic bottles and aluminum cans have been returned to the Deposit Return Scheme so far. That is according to new data from the Department of Environment, Climate, and Communications. This equates to €110 million in deposits returned to customers. The collection rate for August was equivalent to 73% of all…

The average premium paid by consumers for motor insurance in Ireland last year rose 2% to €568, the first increase in five years. It comes as the cost of a claim per policy rose by 5% in 2023 to €369, bringing it back near pre-Covid levels in 2019. Of that figure, the cost per policy…

Consumers are being warned of a new ‘direct debit’ scam which is falsely leading people to believe their bank account has been hacked. FraudSMART, the fraud awareness initiative led by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), said the scammers are persuading people to move their money to a so-called ‘safe account’ in order to protect…

Just 10% of human resources professionals say that their organisation has a 100% level of compliance with on-site or hybrid attendance policies, new research has established. But the study also found that almost half of respondents reported a compliance level of at least 50%. The HR Update report, published by Ibec to coincide with its…

European Central Bank policymakers have begun to debate whether interest rates need to be lowered enough to start stimulating the economy, ending years of economic restriction, conversations this week with half a dozen sources indicate. The ECB has been cutting rates quickly this year but policymakers have so far said the goal is a neutral…