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Households and businesses are in much better shape than in 2007, with lower debt levels and far higher savings. Photo: Depositphotos

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Consumer mood starts to wilt as inflation hits income

Consumer sentiment is “backpedalling” with one-third of households saying they are just making ends meet, according to Bank of Ireland’s latest Economic Pulse index.

Coalition Government is facing the perfect storm

Two years on, Coalition at odds as it faces the perfect storm

The latest victim of the cost of living crisis is the traditional two-day ard fheis — at least for Sinn Féin. It has decided to host a one-day conference instead in the RDS in early November.

'I don’t think this Government is prepared for anything other than the next press release'

How bad is the looming economic storm? Experts give their views

As Irish households face the biggest fall in living standards since 2008, the question is are we heading toward a recession? And if so, how prepared are we? We asked the experts their views…

Paschal Donohoe, Micheál Martin and Michael McGrath. Picture by Damien Storan

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Jody Corcoran Opinion Do we really want radical change, or do we just yearn for stability?

There is a word for those who believe that bad things come in threes — triaphilia. Brexit, the pandemic, and war-induced inflation, leading to a cost-of-living crisis, could be said to fit what is a confirmation bias to group such events into threes.

The newly-elected Cabinet of the 33rd Dáil meet for their first cabinet meeting in Dublin Castle in June 2020. Photo: Julien Behal Photography

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Ministerial ratings: Two years after Cabinet was formed, who has outstayed their welcome and who deserves to be asked back?

THIS weekend marks two years since the ‘grand coalition’ of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party came to power. Micheál Martin’s Cabinet picks brought together a mix of very experienced ministers and rookie TDs. With a reshuffle scheduled for later this year, Political Correspondent Senan Molony assesses who is swimming and sinking.

Director general of financial conduct with the Central Bank of Ireland Derville Rowland

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New law to rein in rogue bankers finally expected to be signed into law

Long-awaited measures to hold rogue bankers personally accountable for wrongdoing such as the tracker mortgage scandal are finally set to become law.

Latvia's prime minister Krisjanis Karins. Photograph: Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg

EU leaders brace for loss of ‘weaponised’ Russian gas as Vladimir Putin seeks to divide Europe

EU leaders met on Friday to prepare for further cuts in Russian gas, limit the impact on inflation and seek alternative supplies, accusing Moscow of “weaponising” energy via a supply squeeze that Germany warned could partly shut its industry.

Seven-week-old Dominic Cryan at a protest outside Leinster House, Dublin, to highlight issues with funding for the childcare sector. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Cost of living: ESRI warns Government to resist public sector pay rises or risk more inflation

The Government must resist public-sector pay demands as much as possible if it wants to keep a lid on inflation, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has said.

Substantial cuts to monthly childcare fees could take effect before the end of the year. Photo: Stock image

Buoyant tax receipts will fund Budget cuts in childcare fees

Record employment and buoyant tax receipts will help fund a significant cut in childcare fees and welfare increases of more than €5 per week that could come into effect immediately after the Budget in October.

EU’s Mairead McGuinness on collision course with Paschal Donohoe over tax veto

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is on a collision course with Ireland’s EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness after she suggested supporting an end to member states’ veto on EU tax policy in some cases.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar. Photo: Damien Storan

Tax-free bonuses up to €1,000 on table for Budget

The Government is looking at increasing €500 tax-free bonuses for employees in the private sector to €1,000 as part of Budget 2023 preparations.

Petrol retailers call for a Vat reduction on fuel to ease cost

Petrol retailers want a Vat reduction like the one introduced for hospitality businesses during the pandemic to help cope with the cost-of-living crisis.

Constance Markievicz touring Dublin polling stations by bike in June 1922. Her anti-Treaty side got only 21pc support from the electorate, but they started a bloody civil war nonetheless

Letters to the Editor Opinion Decade of centenaries masks awkward side of our history

Sir — I have so far seen no mention anywhere of any events arranged for Galway to commemorate the centenary of the June 28, 1922 burning of the Ballyconree Boys Protestant Orphanage in Sky Road, Clifden, by the Clifden Battalion of the West Connemara Brigade of the anti-Treaty IRA.

The numbers were released after a question from Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty. Photograph: Gareth Chaney

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Ireland’s rich get €130m tax break annually on pensions

Just 15,800 people who each earn more than €250,000 a year are receiving a total of €130m every year in tax relief on pension contributions from the Exchequer.

John McCarthy is the top economist in the Department of Finance

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Finance official says Government can't bear brunt of inflation shock

Department of Finance chief economist John McCarthy has warned that the Government cannot take full responsibility for cushioning the blow of inflation.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe. Photograph: Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg

Paschal Donohoe ‘absolutely confident’ about the strength of eurozone finances

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe says a eurozone recession is not on the cards, despite a recent bond market rout and spiking energy prices due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said everybody was aware of the ongoing housing problems.

Opposition parties line up to support President over housing plan ‘disaster’

Political leaders from Sinn Féin, Labour and People Before Profit have endorsed President Michael D Higgins’s claim that the current housing crisis is “a disaster”.

Kremlin critic Bill Browder. Photo: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

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exclusive Leo Varadkar’s Aughinish meeting ‘stinks’, says Putin critic Bill Browder

Bill Browder, the financier and political activist who is a long-time critic of the Kremlin, has criticised Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe for meeting with a UK Conservative life peer to discuss his plan to take over the Aughinish Alumina refinery in Limerick.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin (Photo: Andy Gibson)

Taoiseach vows crackdown on ‘reprehensible’ energy crisis profiteering and warns Government is monitoring price trends

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has vowed that the Government will crack down on any evidence of "reprehensible" profiteering as a result of the energy, food and cost-of-living crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine and the recovery from the pandemic.

Employers are under pressure to entice new recruits in an increasingly competitive jobs market

Firms introducing new perks to woo recruits, but do employees just want a higher salary?

Firms are increasingly offering employees sweeteners including flexible working, personal leave and mental health supports to keep them happy at work. But can they replace a good old-fashioned pay rise, particularly as inflation nears double digits?

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Target cost-of-living assistance at those most in need

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said an “economic regime change” is now under way and has warned the Government’s balance sheet cannot be used to absorb all of the current price shock. In the prevailing inflation crisis, however, it is more important than ever that whatever further assistance is made available in the budget later this year — to mitigate the cost of living — be primarily targeted at those who need it most.

Because the cut, promised by Transport Minister Eamon Ryan, wasn't introduced, an extra €3.8m is going into Government coffers from Irish motorists every month. Photo: Maxwell Photography/PA

Promised fuel cut that never happened has cost motorists an extra €20m so far

The Government failed to deliver a cut in fuel prices promised last November by Transport Minister Eamon Ryan that would have saved motorists around €20m so far this year.

Paschal Donohoe warned the Government will target the lowest level of borrowing. Photograph: Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg

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Jon Ihle Opinion Tax money is rolling in like never before, so what's eating Paschal Donohoe?

Paschal Donohoe should be a happy man.

No give away budget as borrowing costs rise, Donohoe warns in pledge to cut Government debt

The Government aims to draft next year’s Budget so that it doesn't further stoke the kind of price pressures that have already pushed inflation to a 40-year high, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe says.

Mortgage holders are set to be hit by the first in a series of interest rate rises from next month. Stock image

Rampant inflation and mortgage hikes mean families now face biggest squeeze in decade

Runaway price rises and the first of a series of mortgage hikes are combining to put the biggest financial squeeze on householders in a decade.

Inflation hits consumer spending in blow to economic growth

The impact of inflation stalled the recovery in real consumer spending at the beginning of the year even as headline GDP growth continued to soar on the strength of multinational companies.

When Taoiseach Micheál Martin says it will be ‘challenging’ or ‘rocky’, this means we really are in for a very rough spin. Photo: Julien Behal

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Richard Curran Opinion Hold on to your hats, we are now heading into a perfect economic storm

Politicians have a very unusual relationship with language. They are rarely precise and when it comes to talking about the future, they select words that carry a vagueness but still get across roughly the message they want.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe. Picture by Mark Condren

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Economy alert: Cost-of-living crisis and eurozone stagnation have government looking at action plan

There is increasing concern in Government that the economy will be hit harder than expected in the “current environment of extreme uncertainty”.

While the tax windfall debate hasn’t started in earnest here yet, Oxfam is calling for a 10pc one-off tax on excess profits of energy firms

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Rising cost of inflation – the winners and the losers

Consumers are feeling the squeeze from inflation, from the supermarket and the petrol pump to escalating bills for electricity and heating. Indeed, household budgets – especially among lower-to-middle income earners – are taking a hit as consumer prices run at a 22-year high of 7pc.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is seeing strong revenues he hadn't forecast. Photograph: Paulo Nunes dos Santos/Bloomberg

Growth in well-paid jobs is a boost for budget, Fiscal Council says

Strong growth in high-paying jobs has dramatically boosted the State’s tax take and could do for years to come, according to Ireland’s independent budget watchdog.